Four special stages of Friday’s leg of Central European Rally are completed. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak continued to show good and fast pace in difficult conditions – on drying asphalt, in cold temperatures. The ORLEN Rally Team crew hold fourth position in the WRC2 and WRC2 Challenger classifications, staying close to top three.
The first loop on Friday – with over 110 kilometres to complete over the course of the day – consisted of two runs of Klatovy stage (11.78 kms) and single passes of Strašín i Šumavské Hoštice. Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak began with fifth-fastest times in the WRC2 Challenger standings on SS3 and SS4. The following stage was stopped after crash of Mikkelsen and Eriksen, their Hyundai i20 N Rally 1 blocked the road. The ORLEN Rally Team crew finished the loop with fourth-fastest result.
– We have completed the opening Friday’s loop of Central European Rally. The stages are very slippery and we did some combinations with tyres, taking two spare wheels. Our decision was a bit different than choices made by most of our competitors. I think it was not a good choice but again we learned some more things. I am still testing a bit, having more fun at the same time. There’s plenty of fog and it does not happen often in rallies but changeable conditions define our sport. I think this is a real rally
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the ORLEN Rally Team driver, commented after the first loop.
After short break for remote service, the crews will return to competition on Strašín (at 16:14 CET) and Šumavské Hoštice stages (at 17:24 CET), wrapping up the Friday’s leg.
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.
Central European Rally, unofficial results after SS6 (WRC2 Challenger):
- Gryazin/Aleksandrov (Citroën C3 Rally2) 44:58.0
- Mareš/Bucha (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +27.2
- Marczyk/Gospodarczyk (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +27.9
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +44.1
- McErlean/Fulton (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +49.8
- Griebel/Braun (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +51.2
- Potty/Herman (Citroën C3 Rally2) +1:59.8
- Kremer/Kremer (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +2:06.5
- Cvrček/Těšínský (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +2:34.8
- Creighton/Regan (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +3:29.7
