Although LOTOS Rally Team crew won Barborka Rally just two weeks ago, the fastest Polish duo in the oldest international rally series in the world will provide further emotions right at the beginning of New Year. Snow, ice, mud and water – these are things which Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran can expect on Austrian tarmac. They begin their 2015 season with FIA European Rally Championship curtain raiser: Jännerrallye. This event takes place on 4-6th January and LOTOS Rally Team crew will use Ford Fiesta R5 which took them to 4. position in last year’s overall FIA ERC standings. The car of four-time Polish Rally Champions and FIA ERC Gravel Masters winners will be prepared by M-Sport Poland.

Jännerrallye, organised for the first time in 1969, marks the start of FIA ERC season again. Kajetanowicz has two starts in this event under his belt. He competed there for the first time in 2012, using Subaru Impreza. Together with Jarek they took 6. place in overall standings and second among Production Cars, just 1.1 second behind local hero Beppo Harrach. In 2014 Kajetanowicz and Baran had incredible start of Jännerrallye, winning 3 of first 5 special stages. Unfortunately their excellent show came to premature end after car failure.

This year the route is almost exactly the same as in 2014 but – as always in January – there will be a big question mark over conditions which can change literally with every kilometre. The crews will tackle nine special stages, each of them twice, with combined length of almost 240 kilometres. Before the start they will fight on 2-kilometre Qualifying Stage in Freistadt, where the rally and service park are based. 32th Jännerrallye will begin, unusually, on Sunday (4th January) and finish on Tuesday afternoon (6th January).

Kajetan Kajetanowicz: – Last year I really fell in love with FIA European Rally Championship and I hope this feeling is mutual :-) Fighting in different FIA ERC rounds is fascinating but the best thing about this series is that after season’s end we do not have to wait too long for the next one. In this short but very intense break we take decisions which are as crucial as those taken during each special stage. These decisions influence our future and give us possibilities to achieve strong results. I am proud that our committed partners, who have worked with us for many years, did not hesitate to continue supporting our starts. Their confidence is a strong motivation factor for us but also great responsibility.We also continue our cooperation with M-Sport because I know that they treat their duties as seriously as I do. After Christmas break we can instantly return to doing what we love to do and rally emotions will last very long, until November.