The competitors have completed four special stages of Friday’s stage of Rally del Paraguay. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak showed solid and consistent pace on every test, currently holding fifth place in the WRC2 Challenger standings.
The first and longest leg of Rally del Paraguay, a highly anticipated new addition to this year’s World Rally Championship calendar, started on Friday afternoon, European time. The crews tackled four special stages, tasting their toughness. The spectacular tests, packed with spectators along the road, were full of tricky crests which often meant massive jumps, river crossings and large rocks, sitting and waiting for the tiniest error.
Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak did an excellent job on demanding Paraguayan stages. The ORLEN Rally Team crew didn’t fall into any trap, precisely guessing all the potential risky spots. The Poles recorded fourth, fifth (twice) and sixth fastest times on subsequent stages and at the end of the loop they hold fifth position in the WRC2 Challenger standings. The battle at the top of the category is fierce, with Kajetan and Maciek trailing a podium position by just seven seconds.
We have completed the first loop of Rally del Paraguay. It is exactly as we expected – difficult. There are many crests, lots of jumps and dips. You can easily damage your suspension or even your spine because of many compressions. It was not visible in the footage provided by the organiser. Knowledge of every detail of the road is essential here and the Paraguayan drivers confirm this. It is quite rare in the World Rally Championship that local drivers are so fast in their home event. I think that our top ten drivers are at such a level that we can usually compete with them. However, the specific nature of this rally shows that it is crucial to know where the surprises are. We are learning about them, increasing our pace, getting better feeling in the car and enjoying my driving. However, I definitely don’t know everything about this rally yet
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, third-placed driver in the current WRC2 Challenger standings, commented after the loop.
After the service break, the crews will repeat the same set of four special stages: Cambyreta (18.70 kms), Nueva Alborada (19.25 kms), Yerbateras (30 kms), and Autódromo (2.50 km). The leg will finish at approximately 23:00 CET.
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by the title partner of the ORLEN Rally Team – ORLEN S.A., as well as technical partner Delphi and ORLEN OIL.
