Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak coped very well with the difficulties of day one at Rally Chile. The ORLEN Rally Team crew maintained a strong third place in the WRC2 Challenger until the end of the day.
The opening day of the second South American counter in the 2025 World Rally Championship was completed by another runs of three special stages already tackled in the morning. The sky over the Biobío region cleared and fast, gravel roads dried out. Grip changes became more predictable but some rocks appeared on the surface, gradually being pulled out by the rally cars.
Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak maintained their pace from the first loop. The Polish crew completed all stages with solid performance, avoiding any problems. The ORLEN Rally Team duo recorded two top-three stage times in the WRC2 Challenger category and will spend the night on the provisional podium in the standings.
We have completed the first leg of Rally Chile. I am glad we are here. Many competitors did not finish the second loop. It turned out that the stages, especially on the second pass, became much more demanding. The organisers repaired the roads ahead of the rally but they did it in such a way that the surface became very soft in places and deep ruts quickly appeared. The cars hit the bumps so hard with their underbodies that thick protection plates we have underneath could not withstand it. Several competitors had to retire. We are holding up, not just on the road. We are also doing good job with our set-up and it is getting better and better. Although I don’t feel perfect, I think things are heading in the right direction
– said Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the 2023 WRC2 Challenger champion.
Saturday will be the longest day of this year’s Rally Chile. Six special stages are scheduled again, with total distance reaching almost 140 kilometres. There will be two runs od Pelún (15.65 kms), Lota (25.64 kms) and María Las Cruces (28.31 kms) tests. The competition will start just after 14:00 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.
Rally Chile 2025 – unofficial WRC2 Challenger classification after SS6:
- Gryazin/Aleksandrov (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) 1:00:26,3
- Solans/Sanjuan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +37,4
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +1:09,8
- J. Martínez/García (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +1:28,1
- F. Zaldivar/Der Ohannesian (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +2:12,5
- G. Rosselot/Brizio (Citroën C3 Rally2) +3:02,1
- P. Heller/Amestica (Citroën C3 Rally2) +3:31,1
- E. Rosselot/Leiva (Citroën C3 Rally2) +4:50,9
- Scuncio/Román (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +5:52,0
- Galanti/Toyotoshi (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +6:38,0
