First place after first day for a newcomer in such extremely difficult event as Cyprus Rally is without doubt an outstanding achievement. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran started the day as pacesetters and proved their staggering pace with five special stage wins out of eight. LOTOS Rally Team crew fought a fierce battle with their experienced and successful rivals right until the last stage of the day. Kajetanowicz won the final test by eight seconds and overtook erstwhile leader Yazeed Al Rajhi to take the lead in overall classification, scoring maximum amount of points for Leg 1. Today's stage wins and top-three finishes also mean that Kajetan heads ERC Gravel Masters standings.

Kajetan Kajetanowicz: – It is like a dream, a beautiful dream. I am very happy. We fought right until the last stage and at the end of the day we are leading in overall rally classification and in ERC Gravel Masters. It is just brilliant. I don't know what to say because it was an amazing day. Yesterday we made a small mistake and today we mounted a successful comeback. It is a very difficult rally but we were aware of that. Now we find it out with every completed stage. We have good set-up, good car, good feeling – whole team works perfectly. We are ready to fight tomorrow, we are going to keep our pace. Sunday stages are more technical. I don't underestimate the drivers who compete here for many years. They are experienced and know the roads, so it is a big advantage for them. We have to stay alert and calm :-)