The competitors covered almost 130 kilometres on Friday’s leg of Croatia Rally. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak fought not only against rivals but also against bad luck on dirty and damaged tarmac roads of round for of the 2026 season. Two punctures resulted in major time losses and the Polish crew hold eighth position in the WRC2 Challenger category.
The afternoon schedule of the Croatian WRC counter featured second runs of the stages already familiar to the crews from the morning loop. However, the road evolution was significant. Dirt pulled out of numerous cuts by each passing car made the surface look more like a gravel rally than a tarmac event.
Exposed, sharp road edges and more stones on the road led to numerous punctures. Bad luck struck again for Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak – they suffered a second puncture on the opening stage, Vodice-Brest. Fortunately, unlike some other crews, they managed to complete this test without stopping to change the wheel, they also avoided major damage to their car. However, in such tight field, time loss pushed them back to ninth place in the WRC2 Challenger classification. Good performance on the following stages, with two fifth-fastest times – on SS7 and SS8 – allowed the ORLEN Rally Team duo to move up one spot in the overall category standings.
The second loop of Croatia Rally is behind us. We completed three of the four special stages without any problems, but unfortunately we suffered a puncture on the first. There are plenty of stones on the road. You can see the attrition level in the WRC2 field, so we are not the only ones who experienced bad luck. However, there are some positives as well. What I mean is that if we do not encounter any difficulties, we are able to get closer to the front, that is to drive faster and faster. We are finding car settings we did not have before. It was not possible to develop them during tests only, so there is still work to be done, although things are getting better. We are definitely enjoying our driving, although the conditions are incredibly challenging. The smile on my face is constant, the car listens to me more and more or I am doing what the car wants. Either way, we feel optimistic ahead of tomorrow
– said Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the ORLEN Rally Team driver.
Eight more stages are scheduled for Saturday and the crews will have to cope without a traditional midday service. Total competitive distance is almost 120 kilometres and the rally will resume at 8:43 CET.
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by title partner of the ORLEN Rally Team – ORLEN S.A., as well as by technical partner Delphi, ORLEN OIL and Hankook.
Croatia Rally 2026 – unofficial WRC2 Challenger standings after SS8:
- Gryazin/Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2) 1:15:26.5
- Cachón/Rozada (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +19.9
- L.Rossel/Mercoiret (Citroën C3 Rally2) +27.1
- Korhonen/Viinikka (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +39.0
- Pelamourgues/Pouget (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +1:03.0
- Jürgenson/Oja (Ford Fiesta Rally2) + 1:16.0
- Daprà/Guglielmetti (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +2:02.4
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +2:23.7
- Prodan/Stiperski (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +3:26.6
- Gill/Brkic (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +4:08.4
