The ORLEN Rally Team crew have enjoyed a great afternoon on Friday. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak gained a few positions and hold fifth place in the WRC2 Challenger standings of Rally Portugal!
Over 15 hours on the road – the competitors spent plenty of time in their cars during today’s battle in round five of the 2025 World Rally Championship. The organisers have prepared ten very twisty special stage on gravel, with total length of over 146 kilometres. It was an extremely challenging task, even to finish the day – the crews had just two 20-minutes remote service zones, with limited possibility to conduct repairs. However, Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak proved their abilities to cope with all kinds of difficulties, gaining positions with every completed stage. They hold fifth position in their category ahead of Saturday, staying within striking distance behind top three.
– It was a very long day, as we spent around 16 hours in our rally car. We completed ten special stages, very demanding ones – as always in the World Rally Championship. The car, still quite new to me, caused some setup problems in the morning. I didn’t know what conditions I should expect and what setup I should choose. During short service breaks throughout the day I was not able to correct all settings, as the rules do not permit that. We had quite limited options – but we are here. I am happy we finished the day, as we had damper issue towards the end – it just exploded. We completed two final stages without oil. We are not mechanics but together with Maciek we tried to save the day, adding engine oil to provide some lubrication to the damper. For sure it wasn’t working properly. Now our guys will check the car, there is plenty of work. However, we did not touch anything, so I drove 150 kilometres cleanly. It’s positive. We also recorded some nice stage times but the field is very strong and even a slight loss of feeling pushes you down by two or three positions. To be honest, I expected us to be in top ten after Friday. It is good and given the circumstances, even better than I expected. Of course this is not my dream-come-true result but tomorrow we have a new day and we will continue with our job
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the ORLEN Rally Team driver, said after Friday.
Saturday’s leg, although a bit shorter, for sure will not be easier. Seven special stages await the crews: two runs of Vieira do Minho (17.69 kms), Cabeceiras de Basto (19.91 kms) and famous Amarante (22.10 kms) test. The day ends with a short Lousada stage (3.52 kms), contested on a rallycross circuit.
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by the title partner of the ORLEN Rally Team – ORLEN S.A., as well as technical partner Delphi and ORLEN OIL.
Rally Portugal, unofficial WRC2 Challenger classification after SS11:
- Korhonen/Viinikka (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) 1:46:24.3
- Solans/Sanjuan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +3.9
- Cachón/Rozada (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +40.8
- Daprà/Beltrame (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +49.9
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +1:19.9
- Heikkilä/Temonen (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +1:37.7
- M. Bulacia/Vallejo (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +2:04.8
- Jürgenson/Oja (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +2:16.4
- Sarrazin/Roche (Citroën C3 Rally2) +2:18.2
- Zaldivar/Der Ohannesian (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +2:57.5
