- LOTOS Rally Team crew starts the Acropolis Rally with fastest time in the Qualifying Stage;
- This
victory enabled the European Rally Champion to get first choice of
starting position, so important on gravel – he chose fifteenth position;
- Kajetanowicz and Baran won the Qualifying Stage in Greece for the second time in a row, repeating their last year’s achievement;
- Today’s
result means that the Polish duo now have seven wins and 13 top three
times in their FIA European Rally Championship career;
- The
fight for victory in round three of the FIA ERC takes place tomorrow
and on Sunday – on 12 twisty, rocky stages with total length of over 231
competitive kilometres.
Although
208 days have passed since the previous outing of Kajetanowicz and
Baran in a gravel round of the FIA European Rally Championship, the
Polish champions have not forgotten how to drive fast on loose surface.
The LOTOS Rally Team crew started the Acropolis Rally with the fastest
time in the Qualifying Stage today. Kajetan and Jarek in their Ford
Fiesta R5 Evo defeated their championship rivals Alexey Lukyanuk/Roman
Kapustin and FIA ERC Junior runners-up Ralfs Sirmacis/Arturs Simins
(Skoda Fabia R5). This triumph means that Kajetanowicz and Baran notched
up their seventh Qualifying Stage victory in the FIA ERC. The LOTOS
Rally Team crew also scored a top three finish for the thirteenth time
in their career and fifth in a row.
The
Qualifying Stage victory means that Kajetanowicz got the first choice
of starting position for tomorrow special stages, which is very
important in gravel rallies. The qualifying winner can choose the best
road position, in order to avoid loosing time due to cleaning loose
gravel on the stages and at the same time to avoid driving on surface
destroyed by the preceding cars. Kajetanowicz chose fifteenth starting
position for the Saturday’s stages.
The
fight for victory in the 62nd edition of the Greek rally begins on
Saturday 7 May. First leg consists of three gravel stages, each of them
run twice: New Gravia (25.7 kms), Amfissa (14.29 kms) and Paleohori
(12.43 kms). The first one – New Gravia which climbs to 1442 metres
above sea level – starts at 9:08 CET. The Saturday competition ends with
the second pass of Paleohori stage which commences at 15:43 CET. The
crews will cover almost 105 competitive kilometres.
Last
year’s Acropolis Rally winners, Kajetanowicz and Baran, start this
event with comfortable lead in the FIA European Rally Championship
standings: with 22-points advantage over second-placed Alexey Lukyanuk.
On top of that LOTOS Rally Team defends their lead in the FIA ERC Teams
standings in Greece.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz: –
It is great that we had not forgotten how to drive fast on gravel
because over 200 days have passed since our last outing on this surface
and for sure this break has some influence. We regained a good feeling
very quickly today and we won the Qualifying Stage. The gaps were not so
big but it is also good news, as it bodes well for good, exciting
fight. You can approach the Acropolis Rally in two ways. The first one
is to push to the limit and fight fiercely but on these stages it can
cause some problems with the car. The other approach is to drive a bit
slower which in turn makes it difficult to stay focused – and you need
to keep concentration in order to drive cleanly, without incidents. This
is why the best way is to find an optimal balance between both methods:
to drive with confidence and reach the finish line, while doing it fast
enough in order to win. For many days, since our pre-event testing,
since the recce, I have been thinking about everything: how to choose
the tyres, how to set up the car, how to tackle this extremely difficult
route of the Acropolis Rally. Maybe someone could give me a hint
[laughs]?
Jarek Baran: –
This edition of the Acropolis Rally is completely different comparing
to the one we tackled in two previous seasons. We are on higher
altitude, the route is more hilly and similar to the classic versions of
this event. Especially on the two longest stages each day you can see a
few very mixed sections: there are wide places or narrow places, fast
or very twisty, with good, hard and smooth gravel or with very rocky
surface. If there is a single thing which could decide the outcome of
this rally, then for me it would be the places where – according to a
very old rule – you have to drive sensibly, respecting and saving the
car a little bit more.
The results of the Qualifying Stage of the Acropolis Rally – round 3 of the FIA ERC:
1. Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Poland) 2:19.938
2. Alexey Lukyanuk (Russia) +0.095 s
3. Ralfs Sirmacis (Latvia) +1.732 s
4. Jaromir Tarabus (Czech Republic) +3.124 s
5. Wojciech Chuchała (Poland) +4.095 s
6. Raul Jeets (Estonia) +4.652 s
7. Lambros Athanassoulas (Greece) +4.736 s
8. Jarosław Kołtun (Poland) +4.790 s
9. Antonin Tlustak (Czech Republic) +5.864 s
10. Federico Della Casa (Switzerland) +7.046 s
Schedule of the Acropolis Rally – round 3 of the FIA ERC 2016 (all times are CET):
Friday 6 May:
7:30 – Free Practice
10:23 – Qualifying Stage (3.7 kms)
13:00 – road position selection
17:30 – Ceremonial Start (Thermopylae)
Saturday 7 May:
9:08 – SS 1 – New Gravia 1 (25.70 kms)
10:01 – SS 2 – Amfissa 1 (14.29 kms)
11:04 – SS 3 – Paleohori 1 (12.43 kms)
12:09 – Service A – 30 mins (Lamia)
13:47 – SS 4 – New Gravia 2 (25.70 kms)
14:40 – SS 5 – Amfissa 2 (14.29 kms)
15:43 – SS 6 – Paleohori 2 (12.43 kms)
Flexi Service B – 45 mins (Lamia)
Sunday 8 May:
7:00 – Service C – 15 mins (Lamia)
7:55 – SS 7 – Eleftherohori 1 (17.87 kms)
8:48 – SS 8 – Rengini 1 (11.61 kms)
9:16 – SS 9 – Elatia/Karya 1 (33.86 kms)
10:56 – Service D – 30 mins (Lamia)
12:06 – SS 10 – Eleftherohori 2 (17.87 kms)
12:59 – SS 11 – Rengini 2 (11.61 kms)
13:27 – SS 12 – Elatia/Karya 2 (33.86 kms)
14:50 – Service E – 10 mins (Lamia)
15:04 – Ceremonial Finish (Lamia)
The FIA ERC standings before the Acropolis Rally – round 3 of the FIA ERC 2016:
1. Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Poland) 60 points
2. Alexey Lukyanuk (Russia) 38 points
3. Craig Breen (Ireland) 38 points
4. Luis Monzon Artilles (Spain) 25 points
5. Alastair Fisher (Great Britain) 23 points
6. Yonathon Perez Suarez (Spain) 20 points
7. Josh Moffett (Ireland) 19 points
8. Jonathan Greer (Great Britain) 14 points
The FIA ERC Teams standings before the Acropolis Rally – round 3 of the FIA ERC 2016:
1. LOTOS Rally Team 50 points
2. C-Rally 33 points
3. Botka Rally Team 19 points
4. Auto Laca Competition 18 points
5. Tlustak Racing 18 points
6. Eurosol Racing Team Hungary 12 points
7. Tiger Energy Drink Rally Team 10 points
8. Sports Racing Technologies 10 points
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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