A rock lying in the middle of the road interrupted the fight of Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak in Rally del Paraguay. Before this unfortunate incident, the Polish competitors were fighting for the top spots in the WRC2 Challenger category.
Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak completed the first Friday’s loop of round ten of the 2025 World Rally Championship season without any problems. They made no mistakes on technically challenging and tricky special stages, holding a top five position in the WRC2 Challenger category, just a few seconds away from a podium place.
The ORLEN Rally Team duo started the afternoon in Paraguay with third-fastest time on SS5, confirming their aspirations for a top position. Unfortunately, the fight for more valuable points in the championship standings was interrupted on stage numer six. Just 600 meters after the start the Polish crew encountered a rock in the driving line, pulled onto the road by one of the cars running ahead. At high speed, it was impossible to avoid the impact and heavy hit on the skid plate bounced the car off the road. Afterwards the car hit a concrete culvert, with sensors recording 6g deceleration. Fortunately, the crew was unharmed, but the damage to the car was so extensive that it was not possible to continue. Such incidents, though painful and unlucky, are not uncommon on gravel rounds of the World Rally Championship. During last year’s Rally Finland, a rock lying in the middle of the road contributed to the accident of double world champions, Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen.
Second stage of the afternoon loop of Rally del Paraguay – and our car was parked on the side of the road. This is not how we wanted to end that Friday’s leg. In fast braking zone I noticed a rock lying on our line and tried to get it between the wheels. However, the rock was quite high, probably dragged on the road by one of previous crews, and our car bounced, with wheels losing contact with the road. We went off, hit a culvert, some rocks, and ended up in the bushes. We are all okay. We were driving really well, and compared to this morning, our feeling was getting better. It is a shame, it is a real disappointment, but that’s how rallies are. Sometimes it is good, sometimes it is a bit tougher. Now it is a little more difficult, but we will get through it. The most important thing is that we are motivated to go ahead. It is very important to me that we enjoy the support of the team and we will do our best to fix the car
– said Kajetan Kajetanowicz, triple European Rally Champion.
Thanks to the efficient and hard work of the entire ORLEN Rally Team, Kajetan and Maciek will return to competition in Rally del Paraguay. Saturday’s schedule includes seven stages, with two runs of Carmen del Paraná (18.67 kms), Artigas (22.73 kms) and Cantera (13.74 kms). The morning loop will also feature one pass of Autódromo (2.50 kms). The competition will start at 12:35 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.
