It was a real motorsport fiesta. ORLEN 80th Rally Poland is done and dusted – thousands of rally fans from Poland and all over the world followed the competition on the special stages and in front of the TV screens. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak delivered a great performance, finishing the event despite unfortunate incident on Saturday, cheered on by their supporters. The ORLEN Rally Team duo recorded stage wins and maintained impressive pace – and the fans applauded loudly their efforts.
ORLEN 80th Rally Poland returned to the World Rally Championship series after seven years’ break. One of the fastest rounds in the WRC calendar brought plenty of excitement and the number of spectators supporting the crews exceeded all expectations. The competitors were literally flying, cheered on loudly by their fans. Kajetan Kajetanowicz, who gave his best in quest for victory in his category, pushing right from the beginning, noticed it right away. The Polish driver held second position until special stage number eleven – where his car hit a bump and struck a stone, damaging the suspension. Together with his co-driver Maciej Szczepaniak, they fixed the car in order to get to the service zone, but unfortunately exceeded the maximum permitted lateness and they had to retire from the day. They returned on Sunday and won another special stage.
– Throughout the whole weekend I have been showing that I love rallies. I had great feeling, I was taking bigger risk and everything worked just fine. We are still a private team, fighting against factories – and we are able to do it. I had no choice other that doing precisely that for them – for the fans. They made my right foot even heavier on the accelerator. I think that even my own team had not realised that we could be so quick here – among the fastest drivers in the world. We had Scandinavian drivers here, they are blindingly fast on this kind of roads. They know where they can lean on a rut and where you can’t do it, where you can brake later, where earlier, how to position the car before a jump. We were able to win special stages with significant advantage, so I am proud. Thank you to the whole ORLEN Rally Team. We feel satisfaction – this is our prize. We are happy not only after victories but also when we drive fast. We showed it today and during the whole weekend
– summed up Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the ORLEN Rally Team driver.
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by the title partner of the ORLEN Rally Team – ORLEN S.A., as well as technical partner Delphi, Pirelli, ORLEN OIL, ATC CARGO S.A. and SJS S.A.