Official shakedown preceded competition in Acropolis Rally, which gets underway this evening. The ORLEN Rally Team crew of Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak join star-studded field.
Acropolis Rally Greece marks round seven of the 2025 World Rally Championship season, which started back in January. For Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak, this is their fourth event this year, over just six weekend. The experienced duo competed in Kenya, Portugal and Sardegna, scoring points in every round they contested, with the most successful outing recorded in the Mediterranean island – they claimed podium finishes in both WRC2 Challenger and WRC2 standings, fighting for victory right to the finish line.
With rich history, dating back to the 1950., Acropolis Rally is undoubtedly one of the most challenging rounds of current world championship calendar. The difficulty level is a combination of twisty, technical special stages with rough surface at places with extreme heat, typical for late June – this year the rally returned to this date.
Thursday’s schedule of “The Rally of Gods”, as the Greek WRC counter is often called, started with official shakedown in the morning. It was a chance to check car setup on almost 4-kms long stage, although crews had to be careful with tyre management, bearing in mind the regulations. Tyres used during the shakedown are taken from allocation for the rally itself. That’s why Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak, who had completed only a limited testing session before the rally, completed just one run of this short warm-up stage.
It’s time for Acropolis Rally – European version of Safari Rally, equally tough and rough but even warmer. Temperatures in Greece are very high at this time of the year. On one hand it’s not a surprise, although 40 degrees in shadow does not seem natural, even in June. This is one of my favourite rallies, basically I have only good memories – trying to erase those tougher moments from my head. We managed to claim victories and the European Rally Championship title here. The conditions will be very tough. High temperatures, high heart rate, plenty of corners leading to low average speeds – which in turn means that it’s really hot inside the car. So we have to be fit, we are working on it throughout the year, even during off-season break. You have to focus on yourself. Circumstances on one day could influence the next day, especially if I don’t care about eating, drinking or sleeping. It is important during every rally but such a difficult round makes it really crucial. On Friday we start before 7 in the morning local time, returning to the service zone probably around 9 in the evening or even later. So we are facing really demanding event. I am happy to be here, we met a lot of supporters from Poland. Many fans came here to support us but probably to have some rest, combining rally with holidays. Keep your fingers crossed for us, stay positive and we will do our best, as always!
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, two-times Acropolis Rally winner said after the shakedown.
The competition in 71st Acropolis Rally Greece gets underway this evening. Rally convoy will travel from Lamia to Athens and the proceedings in the capital city of Greece will begin with official starting ceremony – at the gates of the reconstructed Panathenaic Stadium, which in 1896 hosted the first Olympic Games held in modern history. Afterwards 67 crews will drive to nearby Zappeion in the National Gardens and compete on short but spectacular superspecial – starting at 17:05 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.
