The best rally crews of the world enjoy a tight battle in Rally Italia Sardegna. Doing a great job on the stages, Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak moved up into second position in the WRC2 Challenger standings midway through the day.
Saturday’s leg is the longest one in this year’s schedule of the Italian WRC counter. The organisers have planned almost 122 kilometres of special stages on twisty and narrow roads of this picturesque island. Apart from rally emotions, also temperatures run high – exceeding 30°C. Local authorities in Sardegna issued heat alert for the weekend.
The crews have completed first runs of Coiluna-Loelle (21.18 kms), Lerno-Su Filigosu (24.34 kms) and Erula-Tula (15.28 kms) stages. Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak increased their pace stage by stage, maintaining maximum level of concentration at the same time, tackling tricky stages. They did exceptionally great job on the final stage. The ORLEN Rally Team crew moved up into second position in the WRC2 Challenger standings and into top three of the overall WRC2 classification.
– We have reached the midway point of Saturday’s leg of Rally Italia Sardegna. It is really hot and we feel it all the time. Our pace is good, we gained places and we are fighting among the frontrunners – but there are still many kilometres to go. The second loop for sure won’t be easier, both for crews and cars. The stages are quite damaged and perceived temperature is still rising
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz briefly summed up the loop.
Following a short service break in seaside town of Olbia, the competitors will repeat the same set of three special stages and in increasingly difficult conditions – with more fatigue, on damaged roads – they will complete another 61 kilometres against the clock, finishing the day around 22 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 and ORLEN OIL.
Rally Italia Sardegna, unofficial WRC2 Challenger classification after SS9:
- Joona/Vaaleri (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) 1:57:32.0
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +23.0
- Daprà/Guglielmetti (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +37.4
- L. Rossel/Mercoiret (Citroën C3 Rally2) +39.4
- Prokop/Ernst (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +1:05.1
- Virves/Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +1:11.0
- B. Bulacia/Morales (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +1:41.5
- Jürgenson/Oja (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +1:51.6
- Solans/Sanjuan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +2:40.2
- Sarrazin/Roche (Citroën C3 Rally2) +3:00.4
