Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak displayed fast and clean performance during Saturday’s second loop of Croatia Rally. The ORLEN Rally Team crew moved up to seventh position in the WRC2 Challenger standings.
The afternoon loop of round four of the 2026 season consisted of the same four stages the competitors had completed in the morning. However, this time the tests were run in reverse order, with each competitive kilometre bringing the crews closer to the rally base at Automotodrom Grobnik.
Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak have completed a successful loop. They were setting stage times closer to the WRC2 Challenger frontrunners, with fractions of seconds often deciding the order between top-three places and positions just off the podium. The ORLEN Rally Team duo set particularly good pace on the second pass of today’s longest stage, Generalski Stol-Zdihovo, securing second-fastest time. After two days of competition, the Polish crew hold seventh place in their category, just a few seconds behind sixth-placed rivals.
The competition during Saturday’s leg of Croatia Rally was very tight, just like on Friday, when the gaps between frontrunners were also narrow. I am happy that we are already very close. We are getting into the fight on some special stages. On the final loop we recorded a top-three stage time, completing the whole section without any puncture – and this is very important. I took it a bit too easy on the last test, but there were plenty of really sharp cuts on the Platak stage and we did not want to risk a puncture. I am constantly playing around with the suspension, trying to learn as much as possible about this car, because it turns out that the operating window in these conditions is very narrow. It is great to be here and to gain experience but we also want to compete a bit more. Sunday is waiting for us. I can’t wait and hope I will sleep well, despite huge emotions which are constantly building inside me. These special stages are beautiful! Even though there is a lot of dirt on the road and in places this rally resembles a gravel round, the route is incredibly enjoyable to drive. You have to be focused in every split of a second but this is rallying at the top level – this is the World Championship. The frontrunners are driving very fast and you need to take risks if you want to keep up with that pace
– summed up Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the ORLEN Rally Team driver.
Four special stages await on Sunday’s final stage of Croatia Rally. The schedule consists of two passes of two tests: Bribir-Novi Vinodolski (14.17 kms) and Alan-Senj (14.56 kms). There are almost 60 competitive kilometres to complete.
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 SS16:
- L. Rossel/Mercoiret (Citroën C3 Rally2) 2:26:38.1
- Korhonen/Viinikka (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +15.5
- Gryazin/Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2) +28.5
- Cachón/Rozada (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +38.9
- Daprà/Guglielmetti (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) 1:35.1
- Gill/Brkic (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +3:32.1
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +3:37.0
- Jürgenson/Oja (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +3:56.2
- Prodan/Stiperski (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +9:44.2
- Keferböck/Minor (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +14:42.7
