Full house of ten stage wins and undisputed victory on first day of the rally, with sizeable advantage of almost 4 minutes, after fight in daylight and darkness on twisty, mountain roads covered with ice and snow – this is how the first leg of Jännerrallye looked for LOTOS Rally Team crew. On top of that Polish duo scored maximum amount of 100 points in winter classification of European Championship: FIA ERC Ice Masters.

Kajetan and Jarek showed consistent and steady rhythm, keeping pace which was out of reach for their opponents. Polish duo successfully found difficult balance between winning stages and maintaining car control on extremely slippery roads with changeable grip. Kajetanowicz and Baran started the day with victory on 18.9-kilometres Pierbach test, where many formidable rivals – including factory drivers – were caught out in treacherous conditions. Over the course of next stages LOTOS Rally Team crew never looked back and consistently increased their lead, winning one test after another. Kajto and Jarek won seven out of 10 stages with advantage exceeding 10 seconds.

Polish crew dominated the opening round of European Championship in style which we have not witnessed for some time on FIA ERC stages. On first day of competition in Mühlviertel region they won 10 stages in a row, beating the achievement of 2013 European Rally Champion, who set the previous record by winning 9 stages of Barum Rally. Their rivals stood no chance as LOTOS Rally Team crew finished the day with massive lead in overall standings. Multiple Polish champions enjoy commanding advantage of 3m52.8s.

Kajetanowicz and Baran made perfect use not only of their Ford Fiesta R5, prepared by M-Sport Poland, but also of their experience gained in two previous outings in Jännerrallye. Thanks to excellent results scored on first day of competition, Polish crew – reigning FIA ERC Gravel Masters champions – scored 100 points in FIA ERC Ice Masters 2015 classification. On top of that they scored 7 bonus points in overall FIA ERC classification for winning Leg 1 of the rally.

Kajetan Kajetanowicz: – It was an incredible day. Yesterday we won the Qualifying Stage and today we scored everything we could score. To put it short, this is just unbelievable feeling. To be honest I don’t know what to say :-) Whole LOTOS Rally Team worked perfectly. We had a good feeling which enabled us to drive extremely fast, reaching maximum speed on snow and ice. It is a fantastic way to begin the season. We scored a lot of points in Ice Masters standings which is also important for us. But the most important thing is that we have plenty of sporting satisfaction. I am proud of the team. I want to thank them and also the fans who are present in large numbers on Austrian stages – and a special "thank you" to those who came here from Poland. There are lots of spectators and they really give us power. I hope that tomorrow we will be able to push like today.