A long journey to South America, swift acclimatisation, and intense preparations for Rally del Paraguay, a highly anticipated new fixture in the 2025 World Rally Championship calendar. That’s how Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak spent past couple of days – all amidst warm and enthusiastic welcome from local fans.
The competition in the world’s most prestigious rally series enters its final phase. With five rounds to go this season, the situation in each of the most important championship categories is far from settled. Competing in the WRC2 Challenger category, Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak have completed four of their seven scheduled starts and they hold top-three position in the standings.
Rally del Paraguay marks fifth outing for the ORLEN Rally Team this season. This is a brand new event in the World Rally Championship calendar and a grand journey into the unknown for all top competitors. The South American country, welcoming and full of passion for motorsport, also famous for yerba mate, often drunk cold, and Guarani culture, becomes the 38th host of a WRC round.
Almost immediately after a long journey and a significant time zone change, Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak began intensive preparations. The Polish duo completed two days of testing, getting to know the characteristics of unique Paraguayan special stages, with their brick-red surface. This is the colour of clay in the ground, which becomes extremely slippery after rainfall.
It is time for Rally del Paraguay, another round of the World Rally Championship and a new addition to this year’s schedule. I think it will be a real challenge for most crews. After long journey we had the opportunity to test and check the special stages here. They are quite specific but on the other hand some elements are familiar from other rallies. When it rains, the gravel roads become very slippery. This is all due to the clay, which has a characteristic red colour and offers no grip at all. The car is performing well and we have also found a proper rhythm. Among plenty of our rivals, there are many local drivers who know these stages very well but on the other hand they are not familiar with the tyres which we use in the World Rally Championship. It’s also important to mention the atmosphere – it is just fantastic, with lots of fans in Paraguay. This is their second national sport here. I am not surprised that a round of the World Rally Championship takes place here and I hope it stays in the calendar for many years. I already know that Paraguay deserves it. It might be hot here, but not just on the special stages. We are already used to high temperatures but there might be some rain at the end of the week, so we can expect more surprises. It’s time for the recce and I hope we will discover all those interesting things day by day and hour by hour
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the 2023 WRC2 Challenger champion, commented ahead of the rally.
Happy with car set-up, Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak started the recce today. The rally route consists of nineteen specials stages, with total length of 333 kilometres. The official starting ceremony of round ten of the 2025 season is scheduled for Thursday, after traditional shakedown. Proper competition in Rally del Paraguay starts on Friday. Apart from Kajetan and Maciek, 25 crews will fight for points in the WRC2 Challenger category.
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.
