- LOTOS Rally Team crew defends their lead in European Rally Championship standings;
- Circuit of Ireland Rally: first tarmac challenge this season for Kajetanowicz and Baran;
- Strong field in 3rd round of FIA ERC: 53 crews from 16 countries, including 18 R5 and S2000 cars in top ERC1 category;
- Kajetanowicz – newly crowned FIA ERC Ice Master 2015 begins his fight for points in Asphalt Master classification;
- 18 special stages – 215 kilometres of competition on the quickest tarmac route in European Rally Championship calendar.
LOTOS
Rally Tam driver and FIA European Rally Championship leader tackles
round three of FIA ERC – Circuit of Ireland Rally – for the first time
in his career. This is one of the oldest rallies in the world, first
held in 1931, and it was run 72 times to date. For many years the Irish
event was the longest tarmac rally in the world: its route, over 1000
miles in length, followed the coastline around whole island.
This
year the rally takes place on 2-4 of April and runs through extremely
demanding but also picturesque asphalt roads south of Belfast: capital
city of Northern Ireland, where the event is based. The crews will fight
on nine different special stages (tackled twice) with total length of
just over 215 kilometres. Three out of nine special stages are new. The
rest of the stages stays exactly the same as in last year’s rally.
Four-time
Polish rally champion prepared a special surprise for Polish and Irish
supporters and for his sister. Kajetanowicz will wear a helmet with
unique livery, designed especially for this event. The helmet of FIA ERC
leader will feature Polish and Irish national colours, combined with
symbols of these two nations: eagle and leprechaun – little old man who,
according to Irish folklore, inhabits the island. There will be a
portrait of Kajetan’s sister on the backside of the helmet – she has
been living in Ireland for couple of years.
In
opening two rounds of FIA European Rally Championship, run on snow and
ice, Kajetan Kajetanowicz not only confirmed his great abilities in
winter conditions by securing FIA ERC Ice Master title but also grabbed
and maintained the lead in overall standings. British round marks the
beginning of fight in FIA Asphalt Master classification. LOTOS Rally
Team crew will tackle their first tarmac event in past six months,
excluding their victorious outing in Polish Barborka Rally. Competition
will be extremely tough: 73rd edition of Circuit of Ireland Rally
attracted exceptionally strong field of 53 crews. Kajetanowicz and Baran
will fight not only with FIA European Rally Championship frontrunners
but also with a group of very quick British and Irish drivers. In total
there are 18 crews in top ERC1 category, using R5 and S2000 cars.
During
preparations before their first outing in Circuit of Ireland Rally,
LOTOS Rally Team had one day of testing near Ustron in Polish mountains,
where their Ford Fiesta R5 was prepared to the characteristics of
British special stages. Second day of testing is planned in Ireland, on
roads of Kilkenny County, in order to confirm the effects of set-up work
done in Poland.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz: –Already
before heading to Ireland, during our tests in Poland, all LOTOS Rally
Team focused on optimum preparation of ourselves and our Fiesta to
competition in Circuit of Ireland Rally. Six months have passed since
Tour de Corse, the previous tarmac round of European Rally Championship,
so I miss driving on asphalt. I know that we have to stay extremely
focused and prepare ourselves well before fight on very complicated
stages around Belfast. From what I heard you can not imagine a more
beautiful and demanding rally for the driver. The stages are narrow,
extremely fast and bumpy, full of jumps – so we will spend a lot of time
in the air :-) These jumps mean that the rally reality for the crew
changes a lot. This rally is also a huge challenge for our Fiesta R5. On
long straights the power of the cars is extremely important and bumpy
surface is a big test for suspension. We will do our best to extract
everything from our car and use our strengths to build up confidence on
stages which are completely new to us. We will fight because I love
rallies and I have additional motivation, as my relatives and a lot of
Polish people live in United Kingdom.
Circuit of Ireland Rally in numbers:
73rd edition of this event
3rd round of FIA European Rally Championship 2015
18 special stages
215.55 kms – total length of special stages
2 – starting number of LOTOS Rally Team crew
26.02 kms – length of the longest stage, McGaffins Corner
1st start of Kajetanowicz and Baran in this event
53 crews including 3 from Poland on entry list for 3rd round of FIA ERC
1931 – in this year first Circuit of Ireland Rally took place
FIA ERC standings before Circuit of Ireland Rally:
1. Kajetan Kajetanowicz (POL) 45
2. Craig Breen (IRL) 40
3. Robert Consani (FRA) 40
4. Alexey Lukyanuk (BLR) 32
5. Siim Plangi (EST) 28
6. Dominykas Butvilas (LTU) 23
7. Jaromir Tarabus (CZE) 22
8. Martins Svilis (LVA) 15
9. Martin Fischeriehner (AUT) 14
10. Emil Bergkvist (SWE) 12
Starts
of Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran are supported by strategic
partner of LOTOS Rally Team - LOTOS Group - as well as CUBE.ITG and
Driving Experience. More info about Kajetan Kajetanowicz and the team
available at: www.lotosrallyteam.pl, www.kajto.pl,
www.facebook.com/EmocjeDoPelna, www.facebook.com/KajetanKajetanowicz and
www.twitter.com/Kajto_pl
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