As predicted, the opening day of Safari Rally Kenya turned out to be very demanding for the crews. Although the weather was fine – no rain, despite some forecasts – rough African roads represent a great challenge. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak fight for their second victory in a row, after winning the Kenyan classic last year. The ORLEN Rally Team crew hold second position in the WRC2 standings, inside top ten of the overall classification!
During the second loop the crews repeated the same set of stages, on which they competed in the morning. Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak set second-fastest time twice and won special stage number six. After Friday’s leg they hold second position in the WRC2 standings, trailing the leaders by 26.4 seconds.
– The opening, long day of Safari Rally is already behind us. I think it was the mildest leg, although here you cannot underestimate any special stage, basically any metre or any stone. I am happy – despite losing many seconds due to a puncture, we took a good decision to continue without stopping to change a wheel. The tyre damaged our car but our mechanics fixed it and everything is OK. At the service we will consider introducing some changes in the car. For sure we have to check it thoroughly, as it was a very demanding loop. We’ll be ready to fight tomorrow!
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the ORLEN Rally Team driver, comments after Friday’s leg.
The second leg starts tomorrow, at 7:00 CET with Soysambu 1 stage (29.32 kms) – followed by Elmenteita 1 (15.08 kms) and the longest test of the rally, Sleeping Warrior (31.04 kms). The same set of special stages will be repeated in the afternoon.
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by titular partner of the ORLEN Rally Team – PKN ORLEN, as well as technical partner Delphi Technologies, Pirelli, ATC CARGO S.A., PLATINUM ORLEN OIL brand, QUAZAR LOTOS OIL brand and SJS S.A.
Safari Rally Kenya 2023, unofficial WRC2 standings after SS7:
- Munster/Louka (Ford Fiesta Rally2) 1:23:29.4
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +26.4 s
- Prokop/Jůrka (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +3:21.8 s
- Tundo/Jessop (Škoda Fabia R5) +5:55.8 s
- Kremer/Gottschalk (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +8:25.0 s
- Chwist/Heller (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +10:44.9 s
- Virani/Bhatti (Škoda Fabia R5) +13:16.6 s
- Díaz-Aboitiz/Sanjuan de Eusebio (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +15:06.0 s
- Patel/Khan (Ford Fiesta R5) +15:52.2 s
- Singh/Khan (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +21:14.7 s
