Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak added two more stage wins to their tally, setting fastest times on SS9 and SS10 – the longest test of the rally, called Sleeping Warrior. They extended their lead to almost three-and-a-half minutes over second-placed crew. It might be significant, but there is no such thing as “safe advantage” in Safari Rally.
It was not an easy morning for crews competing in Kenya. In some places the stages turned into muddy ordeal, with standing water after the rain. Stones on the road caused punctures but fortunately the ORLEN Rally Team crew avoided problems, starting the day with second-fastest time on SS8 Soysambu (29.32 kms), following that result with two stage wins, on SS9 Elmenteita (15.08 kms) and the longest test in the whole rally, SS10 Sleeping Warrior (36.08 kms).
– Another day at Safari Rally, we are midway through Saturday, with very difficult stages. This is the longest loop of the rally and the second runs will be even tougher – probably with more rocks and deeper ruts. There was much fesh-fesh on the morning stages but I tried to be smart and it resulted in over three minutes’ advantage in the WRC2 Challenger standings. It would be a huge gap if we were racing in Europe but this is Safari – and that’s basically nothing in terms of advantage. Anything can happen here. I will try to take it easy in those ruts but at the same time it rains a lot at the service park and the conditions on the stages are pretty much unknown. It might be a completely another story, the stages could look different to the first runs. This is why I expect… unexpected again
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, triple European Rally Champion, said after the first part of Saturday.
The crews will repeat the same set of stages after service break: SS11 Soysambu 2 (29.32 kms) starts at 12:34 CET, followed by SS12 Elmenteita 2 (15.08 kms, at 13:35 CET) and SS13 Sleeping Warrior 1 (36.08 kms, at 13:33 CET).
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by the title partner of the ORLEN Rally Team – ORLEN S.A., as well as technical partner Delphi, Pirelli, ORLEN OIL, ATC CARGO S.A. and SJS S.A.
Safari Rally Kenya 2024, unofficial results after SS10 (WRC2 Challenger):
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) 2:18:50.0
- Ciamin/Roche (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +3:25.1
- Munster/Dumont (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +3:28.9
- Chwist/Heller (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +14:17.6
- Domínguez/Peñate (Citroën C3 Rally2) +18:18.2
- Tundo/Jessop (Ford Fiesta R5) +20:46.3
- Vassilakis/Krawszik (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +25:56.5
- Díaz-Aboitiz/Sanjuan (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +27:14.7
- Patel/Khan (Škoda Fabia R5) +31:21.1
- Virani/Shah (Škoda Fabia R5) +33:49.7
