Rally Saudi Arabia, the final round of the 2025 World Rally Championship season, kicked off with a spectacular superspecial stage in Jeddah. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak set the fastest time in the WRC2 Challenger and WRC2 categories, claiming overnight lead in both categories.
Saudi Arabia is hosting the World Rally Championship round for the first time in history. Jeddah became the base of the event and the opening clash of the entire field took place in this city, on the Red Sea coast.
Twisty 5-kms superspecial stage, relatively long compared to other city tests, was set up in the Corniche district, famous for its Formula 1 track. Two cars took the stage side-by-side and apart from narrow and slippery route, the crews were also challenged by the need to use gravel setup and tyres on tarmac surface.
Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak put in a great performance during the evening stage. The ORLEN Rally Team duo defeated their compatriots Daniel Chwist and Kamil Heller in a head-to-head duel, setting the fastest time in both the WRC2 Challenger and WRC2 categories.
Rally Saudi Arabia has started. As a warm-up, the organisers have prepared a superspecial stage which was not so short but quite enjoyable to drive – so congratulations to them. We set the fastest time among the WRC2 Challenger crews and additionally in the overall WRC2 category but I know this is just the beginning. The main task begins early tomorrow morning. We do not have much sleep, as we still have some homework to do today
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the ORLEN Rally Team driver, commented after the first stage.
Tomorrow morning the rally will move onto the gravel roads around Jeddah. Thursday’s part of the 2025 season finale features two runs of the Al Faisaliyah (19.36 kms), Moon Stage (20.12 kms) and Khulais (11.33 kms) stages. The day will end with another pass of today’s superspecial.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz’s starts are supported by the ORLEN Rally Team’s title partner, ORLEN S.A., as well as technical partners Delphi and ORLEN OIL.
Rally Saudi Arabia 2025 – unofficial WRC2 Challenger classification after SS9:
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) 4:05.3
- Cachón/Rozada (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +0.4
- Gryazin/Aleksandrov (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +0.9
- Schwarz/Raabe (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +1.2
- Domínguez/Peñate (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +1.3
- Virves/Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +1.5
- Sarrazin/Roche (Citroën C3 Rally2) +2.0
- Mauro/Pérez (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +3.7
- Al-Kuwari/Bernacchini (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +5.3
- Korhonen/Viinikka (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +5.5
