Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak have finished Rally Portugal in sixth position in their category. The ORLEN Rally Team duo scored more points for the championship in a record-breaking field of almost 40 crews.
This year’s Rally Portugal brought a lot of novelties for the Polish crew. They returned to these stages after three seasons, driving a new car on new tyres. Together with competitive field, it meant a tough struggle right from the word go.
Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak started the event in excellent way, as second-fastest crew in the WRC2 Challenger standings after opening stage. Afterwards they held fifth position until second loop on Saturday. After suffering a puncture, they drove for over twelve kilometres with flat tyre – dropping back to seventh position. On Sunday they managed to claw back one spot and the ORLEN Rally Team crew finished the rally in sixth place.
– We returned to Portugal after three years. It was an extremely tough rally, probably the most popular event in the calendar. We finished with a positive result, although this not our dream goal. Of course everybody expects more but in our second outing this year, in such competitive field, with a puncture and few issues I think it is OK. Fantastic atmosphere encouraged us to fight and we are happy, despite fatigue after very long days and short nights. We know what to improve and this is the most important thing after the rally – equally with reaching the finish line and adding precious points in the standings. It was great to be back on Portuguese gravel, to complete the whole distance. I know a lot more about this rally and above all about the car, which still hides some secrets from me. Driving this machine gives me enormous pleasure. I want to thank the whole ORLEN Rally Team which did en excellent job, to thank our sponsors and of course our fans. We return to Poland but we will leave to Sardegna soon. We will get a new evolution of dampers, so it will be really possible to compare to other frontrunners
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the 2023 WRC2 Challenger champion, commented after the rally.
Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak will return to competition during Rally Italia Sardegna, on 5-8 June. Sixteen special stages on gravel and over thirty rivals await the Polish duo there.
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 standings:
- Korhonen/Viinikka (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) 3:59:55.7
- Solans/Sanjuan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +1:06.7
- Daprà/Beltrame (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +1:36.4
- Heikkilä/Temonen (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +2:09.0
- M. Bulacia/Vallejo (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +2:52.4
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +4:07.0
- Jürgenson/Oja (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +4:29.8
- Zaldivar/Der Ohannesian (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +6:51.4
- L. Rossel/Mercoiret (Citroën C3 Rally2) +7:07.5
- B. Bulacia/Morales (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +7:56.5
