The extremely demanding Croatia Rally has come to an end. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak took sixth position in the WRC2 Challenger classification in their first event of the year, gaining one position in the final kilometres.
Croatia Rally, making its return to the World Rally Championship schedule after one year’s break, was the fourth round of the 2026 season. The organisers prepared many novelties for the competitors, moving the event from Zagreb to the area of Rijeka. The schedule included technically challenging special stages previously unused at the WRC level, with plenty of cuts, where significant amount of dirt appeared on the optimal driving line.
The final leg took place on roads along the Adriatic coast and the crews faced two runs of Bribir-Novi Vinodolski (14.17 kms) and Alan-Senj (14.56 kms) stages, with nearly 60 competitive kilometres in total. These stages had different characteristics to those completed during the two previous days, with domination of high speed sections and better quality of surface.
For Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak, the Croatian round of the World Championship was a return to competition on tarmac after almost one and a half year’s break. The only Polish crew in the field suffered a couple of punctures at the beginning of the rally, which made their task more difficult. Different characteristics of the stages required very precise car settings and the order of the whole WRC2 Challenger top ten on the stages was often decided by single seconds. The ORLEN Rally Team duo started Sunday’s leg in seventh place in their category. Consistent and solid pace, especially on the final two stages, allowed them to move up into sixth position.
It was not an easy return to tarmac after a break of over one year and a half. It was also my first event on this surface in this car. For sure I struggled to find my rhythm against such strong competition and on incredibly difficult special stages. I had three punctures and the surface was more like gravel in places, so there was no way to avoid the stones. It is definitely a solid lesson for us. I am learning more and more about the car setup and I will do my best to use this knowledge in the future. I will not say that I am super happy, I would have to cheat and lie to you. But I know what to do, at least I think I know. Thanks to our entire team and, of course, to all fans who arrived here. I felt like at home. It is fantastic. Thank you very much for being here for me, in good and in bad times, because this is how true fans should behave
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, triple European Rally Champion, summed up his performance.
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:
- L. Rossel/Mercoiret (Citroën C3 Rally2) 2:57:14.5
- Gryazin/Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2) +19.1
- Cachón/Rozada (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +44.1
- Korhonen/Viinikka (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +55.3
- Daprà/Guglielmetti (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) 1:39.4
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +4;10.2
- Gill/Brkic (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +4:15.7
- Jürgenson/Oja (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +4:22.6
- Prodan/Stiperski (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +12:40.9
- Keferböck/Minor (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +18:32.9
