Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak finished Central European Rally right behind podium. The Polish crew returned to competition on tarmac after eleven months’ break, building their pace and confidence step by step. After good and consistent outing, the ORLEN Rally Team duo scored 12 points and moved into third position in the WRC2 Challenger standings.
The final leg of round twelve of the 2024 World Rally Championship took place in bright sunshine but the surface remained damp and dirty in some places. The Polish duo maintained good pace, defending successfully their position against chasing crew of McErlean/Fulton. Ultimately Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak finished the rally in fourth position in both WRC2 and WRC2 Challenger classification, claiming also tenth place in the overall standings.
For the ORLEN Rally Team crew it was sixth out of possible seven points-paying rounds in the WRC2 Challenger championship. Kajetanowicz started his 2024 campaign in March, winning Safari Rally in Kenya, and two months later added fourth position in Rally Italia Sardegna. Great performance in ORLEN 80th Rally Poland, at the end of June, did not bring any points after small mistake, but afterwards the Polish driver, co-driven by Maciej Szczepaniak, claimed a podium finish in legendary Acropolis Rally. A trip to South America ended with second place in Rally Chile. The 2024 season comes to an end in Japan, on 21-24 November.
– It was a great rally for us, very successful as we gained plenty of experience with different car settings. I drove for the first time with these dampers, learning a lot. For me the most important thing is that I managed to regain feeling after eleven months without driving on tarmac. It was very important, especially in very competitive field. Our Friday was not the best but afterwards we were in the mix. Today I took a wrong decision with tyres. I don’t know why I am so stubborn – I got good advice but still made a wrong choice. It’s the driver who makes the final call – sometimes it’s a bad decision. The truth is that nobody remembers the good decisions. Another important thing is that we are ready to fight in Japan. Congratulations to Mikołaj and Szymon, they drove a great rally and good season, and to Hubert and Michał for good performance here. Congratulations also to all our competitors. I hope we will finish this season according to our plan – which is to score another top-three finish in the WRC2 Challenger championship standings
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, triple European Rally Champion, said after the final special stage of the rally.
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 (WRC2 Challenger):
- Gryazin/Aleksandrov (Citroën C3 Rally2) 2:46:52.2
- Mareš/Bucha (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +2:23.9
- Marczyk/Gospodarczyk (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +2:53.0
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +3:02.7
- McErlean/Fulton (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +3:13.0
- Griebel/Braun (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +3:37.4
- Potty/Herman (Citroën C3 Rally2) +6:56.3
- Kremer/Kremer (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +7:19.1
- Creighton/Regan (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +7:49.9
- Cvrček/Těšínský (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +12:18.7
