Opening day of Rally Italia Sardegna – with Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak battling for more WRC2 Challenger points – brings almost 78 kilometres of gravel special stages. The ORLEN Rally Team crew is fully motivated and ready for competition. This leg is quite short but its beginning means a huge challenge: the first stage, over 25-kms Osilo-Tergu test, is the longest one of the rally.
The Italian World Rally Championship counter is a classic, present in the championship calendar right from the beginning, in 1973. Plenty of fans always visit Sardegna, taking advantage of holiday weather and rally atmosphere. Lots of supporters come from Poland and Polish competitors appreciate their support.
– Long-awaited Rally Italia Sardegna starts today. We face very demanding special stages, with changeable characteristics after first batch of cars. It is difficult to predict, because the roads are fixed and covered with fresh gravel – so hats off to the organisers for this but on the other hand it makes our lives a bit tougher, as we don’t know where to expect big stones and rocks which for sure will appear during the second loop. Our experience will be useful – however, I will also tackle some new stages, so the challenge is quite big. I am happy to see so many supporters from Poland – rally fans and tourists who are interested in this event. Sardegna is a beautiful place, with warm weather – but rally atmosphere is equally hot. Lots of people with Polish flags visited us yesterday. We will do our best to bring some joy to them and to all fans who follow our fight
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the WRC2 Challenger champion, commented before the start.
On Friday the crews face two special stages, each of them run twice – starting with the longest test of the rally, Osilo-Tergu (25.65 kms), followed by Sedini-Castelsardo (13.26 kms).
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.