The crews competing in Rally Chile have completed three special stages of the opening loop. Round eleven of the 2023 World Rally Championship presents a great challenge right from the word go, making an impression on the world’s best competitors. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak have started the rally with steady and consistent pace, holding fifth position in the WRC2 and third in the WRC2 Challenger standings.
The opening stage of Rally Chile brought plenty of drama. Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm left the road in their Hyundai, crashing heavily. They were joined on the sidelines by Pierre-Louis Loubet and Nicolas Gilsoul, who rolled on special stage number three. Fortunately, both crews escaped without injury. Meanwhile, the ORLEN Rally Team crew improved their pace with every test. They avoided major mistakes, holding fifth position in the WRC2 and third in the WRC2 Challenger classification.
– The opening loop of Rally Chile is already behind us. The stages are beautiful. I don’t know them, so it’s difficult to drive fast. There are many blind corners – quite a few drivers discovered it in past years and also now. I will remember more during the second loop but there are plenty of similar corners. The stages are extremely fast and very narrow, so there is no margin for error. When you hesitate a little, you lose time immediately. I am trying to find a good feeling and to enjoy my driving, to fight and avoid mistakes at the same time. Of course everything is possible and we are in the mix. Let’s see what happens next
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the ORLEN Rally Team driver, commented after the first loop.
The same three stages – Pulperia, Rere and Rio Claro – will be repeated on the second loop, at 14:42, 15:40 and 16:34 respectively (19:42, 20:40 and 21:34 CET).
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by the title 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.
Rally Chile 2023, unofficial WRC2 standings after SS3:
- Pajari/Mälkönen (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) 30:50.9
- Solberg/Edmondson (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +2.4
- Griazin/Aleksandrow (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +15.6
- Greensmith/Andersson (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +25.3
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +44.8
- M. Bulacia/Roca (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +45.1
- Lindholm/Hämäläinen (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +45.7
- Rossel/Dunand (Citroën C3 Rally2) +1:01.8
- Martínez Fontena/Alvarez Nicholson (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +1:04.7
- Scunio/Roman (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +1:22.3
