Just over a week after winning Rally de Portugal, Kajetan Kajetanowicz and his LOTOS Rally Team returns to action! Round five of the 2021 World Rally Championship takes place in Sardegna, where temperatures are expected to reach 30 degrees. Fierce competition will turn up the heat even more!
Kajetanowicz, co-driven by Maciej Szczepaniak, enters his third rally of the season. He won Croatia Rally and Rally de Portugal – both events being completely new to him – and currently holds second position in the WRC-3 standings, with 56 points. Sardegna is a happy place for Kajto – in previous seasons he scored two runner-up spots there. What can he achieve this time, in 18th edition of this rally?
The route in Sardegna is one of the narrowest in the WRC calendar. Gravel roads are lined with stone walls, trees and bushes – without any margin for error. These stages require extreme precision and courage, so the fight for top position is always spectacular and very tight. On top of that competitors are looking forward to iconic Micky’s Jump, where they fly high and far, cheered on by supporters from all over the world.
The WRC-3 entry list consists of 16 crews, including the names which featured in the battles for top position in previous two rounds. Yohan Rossel, Nicolas Ciamin, Egon Kaur, Emil Lindholm or Chris Ingram will for sure try to break the successful streak of Kajetanowicz, who for his part wants to prove his excellent form.
– Victories in Croatia and Portugal bring plenty of adrenaline boost but every WRC round is a new story. We are already in Sardegna and I have competed here many times. However, this rally always means a huge challenge, especially as most of stages have been changed and this is an additional difficulty. Just over a week ago we competed in Portugal, so there was little time for preparation. A proper exploitation of this period might prove crucial. A couple of times we had an honour of spraying some champagne here, scoring two runner-up spots, but in rallies you have to maintain an event-by-event approach. We have completed our testing session here, the stage was representative with regards to the real competition. We checked some suspension settings and different tyres on slippery and narrow roads but we will rely mostly on what we found out in Portugal, as these two rallies are quite similar when it comes to grip levels
– says Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the LOTOS Rally Team driver.
Rally Italia Sardegna begins on Thursday, with a usual shakedown and ceremonial start in the evening, which takes place in Alghero. On Friday there are over 127 competitive kilometres to cover, starting with two runs of Filigosu – Sa Conchedda (22.29 kms) and Terranova (14.36 kms) stages. Two more stages, also run twice, await after the service break: Tempio Pausania (12.08 kms) and Erula – Tula (14.97 kms).
Saturday is the longest rally day, although the difference compared to Friday is just two competitive kilometres. The opening loop consists of two passes of Coiluna – Loelle (15.00 kms) and Lerno – Monti di Alà (22.08 kms). On the second one the competitors will tackle Bortigiadas – Aggius – Viddalba (14.70 kms) and Sedini – Castelsardo (13.03 kms) stages – each of them also run twice.
On the final day there are Arzachena – Braniatogghiu (15.25 kms) and Aglientu – Santa Teresa (7.79 kms) tests, with the second pass of the latter run as points-paying Power Stage. In total, the competitors face 303.10 kilometres of fierce fight for precious points in Rally Italia Sardegna!
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by strategic partner of the LOTOS Rally Team – Grupa LOTOS – as well as Delphi Technologies, Pirelli, SJS Driving Experience and Grupa Sikora.
