Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak continue their strong performance at Rally Italia Sardegna. Halfway through the Saturday’s leg, the Polish crew hold second place in the WRC2 Challenger category and third place in the overall WRC2 standings.
Saturday’s leg of the World Rally Championship season finale – arguably the toughest day of the event – started with runs of the two longest stages of the Rally Italia Sardegna itinerary. The crews tackled Lerno-Sa Conchedda-Monti di Alà (24.14 kms) and Coiluna-Loelle (24.83 kms) tests. Before heading of the service break in Alghero, they also had to complete Solorche stage (12.86 kms), a brand new addition to the Italian WRC counter.
As expected, Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak gained one position even before today’s competition began. The stewards restored time lost by the Poles on the final stage of yesterday’s leg, where they were forced to drive in the dust kicked up by struggling rivals. This moved the ORLEN Rally Team crew up to second place in the WRC2 Challenger category and fourth in the WRC2 standings.
Kajto and Maciek completed the morning’s three stages without any problems, fighting fiercely for the runner-up position against local crew of Roberto Daprà and Luca Guglielmetti. The Poles were faster on one stage, while the Italians set quicker times on the other two. Halfway through the day, Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak hold second position in the WRC2 Challenger standings and moved up to third place in the WRC2 classification. They enjoy a 32.4-second gap to their nearest rivals.
We are really enjoying Rally Italia Sardegna, even though it brings also some difficulties. However, I don’t think there is a single crew that managed to avoid these struggles here. It is an incredibly tough rally. We are currently on the podium – something I had not expected after a break of nearly one year from competition on gravel. That said, I am not entirely satisfied with everything, especially with my driving and the feeling of the car. We are trying to adjust certain things to suit my driving style and the conditions which are different compared to previous years. There is a lot of loose gravel and the stages themselves are different, with many new sections. We are pushing hard, even though our driving is focused on avoiding punctures – which is obviously very difficult here. And, as I said before, driving at 90 or even 85 percent does not mean we can avoid punctures. It is a tough rally but we are enjoying every meter of the route
– summed up Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the ORLEN Rally Team driver.
After a thirty-minute service break, the crews will return to competition. The second run of the same set of three stages is scheduled, with almost 62 competitive kilometers to complete.
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by title partner of the ORLEN Rally Team – ORLEN S.A., as well as technical partner Delphi and ORLEN OIL.
Rally Italia Sardegna 2026 – unofficial WRC2 Challenger standings after SS10:
- Korhonen/Viinikka Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 2:10:25,1
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 +1:24,1
- Daprà/Guglielmetti Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 1:56,7
- Virves/Viilo Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 +2:26,3
- Zaldivar/Der Ohannesian Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 +3:54,1
- Mauro/Salvat Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 +8:11,7
- Granados/Martí Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 +11:16,6
- Romagna/Lamonato Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 +13:08,8
- Rath/Maier Ford Fiesta Rally2 +13:52,6
- 10. Trentin/Ometto Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 +24:15,0
