There’s no real opposition for the Polish duo in the toughest rally of the world! Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak win the WRC2 category in Safari Rally Kenya for the second time in a row. The ORLEN Rally Team crew after excellent performance in the legendary World Rally Championship round defeated the second-placed crew by over 11 minutes and won the Power Stage Hell’s Gate, scoring maximum amount of points!
Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak claimed their seventh WRC win in their category and podium finish number 18 over six years of competition in the World Rally Championship. Second consecutive victory in Safari Rally, which require not only fast driving but above all experience, wisdom and ability to manage the pace on extremely tough special stages, is for sure one of the most important achievements of the Polish duo.
– This is an amazing feeling, we have won Safari Rally for the second time – the most difficult round of the WRC calendar. I am proud of our team. I think that we deserve this success, after all that hard work. It wasn’t easy although it might have looked like it was. We enjoyed a huge advantage at the finish but we had to play a good mental and tactical game over the course of the rally. Our plan is executed in 100% and I am very happy about it. I am also happy to return home, in the last couple of months I spent only a few days there – so I deserve it as well. 😉 Thank you for being with us. Follow my social media, soon you will find more info about our great charity expedition to Monte Carlo, in iconic Polish cars – Fiat 126, called “Maluch” – “Toddler”
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the ORLEN Rally Team driver, summed up the rally.
Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak strengthened their lead in the WRC2 Challenger classification, among privateer drivers. They also moved up to fourth position in the WRC2 standings.
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by titular partner of the ORLEN Rally Team – PKN ORLEN, as well as technical partner Delphi Technologies, Pirelli, ATC CARGO S.A., PLATINUM ORLEN OIL brand, QUAZAR LOTOS OIL brand and SJS S.A.
Safari Rally Kenya 2023, unofficial WRC2 classification:
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) 3:57:15.9
- Prokop/Jůrka (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +11:27.7 s
- Tundo/Jessop (Škoda Fabia R5) +14:22.7 s
- Kremer/Gottschalk (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +17:24.9 s
- Chwist/Heller (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +55:36.2 s
- Singh/Khan (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +1:26:32.4 s
- Virani/Bhatti (Škoda Fabia R5) +1:45:56.6 s