• Another display of quick pace of Kajetanowicz and Baran on snow and ice
• Third top-three finish in a row for LOTOS Rally Team on the Qualifying Stage of FIA ERC counter
Competition in round two of European Rally Championship commenced today, early in the afternoon. FIA ERC leaders Kajetanowicz and Baran, as well as other crews taking part in Rally Liepāja, started the recce yesterday and today finally started the engines of their rally cars and contested the Qualifying Stage. After completing two practice runs of the stage, they started qualifying runs at 3:15 pm. The results of this test determine the order for selection of road positions for the Leg 1 of the rally. After practice runs the stage was very rough and the surface was mostly gravel. In these conditions LOTOS Rally Team crew recorded third fastest time and this means that since the beginning of the year Kajetan and Jarek have finished all special stages and two qualifying stages in top three.
Rally Liepāja is a second chance for Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran to fight with the best competitors in Europe. Before Latvian round they scored maximum possible amount of points in Jännerrallye and they hold first place in championship standings. Rally Liepāja marks title showdown in FIA ERC Ice Master trophy, which for the second year in a row can be won by Polish driver. Kajetanowicz also leads this classification, having scored 176 points in „winter” championship. Second-placed Alexey Lukyanuk trails him by 76 points.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz: – The Qualifying Stage was run almost entirely on gravel. Cars driving ahead of us during practice runs left a path on the road and we sticked to it because it offered better grip. We are happy, we setting third-fastest time so we will pick up our road position as third crew. We want to choose as low starting position as possible in order to avoid road cleaning. I would prefer driving on snow so I hope there will be some white stuff left for us on the stages [smile]. On Sunday we can expect both temperature fall and snowfall. I hope for a lot of fun behind the steering wheel. Latvian stages are great: very fast, full of medium and quick corners. Together with snow and ice it guarantees plenty of emotions in the car and spectacular competition for fans and TV viewers alike. I think this rally will be awesome and I am looking forward to the first special stage.
Jarek Baran: – At first glance the route is similar to last year but organiser decided to introduce many changes. Only one stage is completely unchanged and the remaining stages are heavily modified versions of 2014 tests. During the recce we used some of last year's pace notes but around 50% we had to prepare from scratch. However there were lots of changes and corrections even in repeating sections because in many places the edge of the road has been marked differently by snow ploughs. In winter rally it means that using pace notes from previous year is difficult because corners are profiled in a different way and their characteristics change: entry, exit and even apex can be in different place than last year. The stages are very varied although they look similar to each other. This diversifications means that the rally is interesting but so many similar sections mean that you have to rely on pace notes and timing of calling the notes. Variable rhythm of special stages does not make our job easy but at the same time it is a big challenge – I think it is the case with every co-driver.
FIA ERC standings before Rally Liepāja:
1. Kajetan Kajetanowicz (POL) 39
2. Robert Consani (FRA) 28
3. Alexey Lukyanuk (BLR) 25
4. Jaromir Tarabus (CZE) 22
5. Martin Fischeriehner (AUT) 14
6. Jonathan Hirschi (CHE) 8
7. Antonin Tlusták (CZE) 8
8. Vojtech Stajf (CZE) 4
9. Craig Breen (IRL) 3
10. David Botka (HUN) 2
FIA ERC Ice Master standings before Rally Liepāja:
1. Kajetan Kajetanowicz (POL) 176
2. Alexey Lukyanuk (BLR) 100
3. Jaromir Tarabus (CZE) 56
4. Robert Consani (FRA) 49
5. Stephane Lefebvre (FRA) 17
6. Craig Breen (IRL) 11
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
NEWS• Third top-three finish in a row for LOTOS Rally Team on the Qualifying Stage of FIA ERC counter
Competition in round two of European Rally Championship commenced today, early in the afternoon. FIA ERC leaders Kajetanowicz and Baran, as well as other crews taking part in Rally Liepāja, started the recce yesterday and today finally started the engines of their rally cars and contested the Qualifying Stage. After completing two practice runs of the stage, they started qualifying runs at 3:15 pm. The results of this test determine the order for selection of road positions for the Leg 1 of the rally. After practice runs the stage was very rough and the surface was mostly gravel. In these conditions LOTOS Rally Team crew recorded third fastest time and this means that since the beginning of the year Kajetan and Jarek have finished all special stages and two qualifying stages in top three.
Rally Liepāja is a second chance for Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran to fight with the best competitors in Europe. Before Latvian round they scored maximum possible amount of points in Jännerrallye and they hold first place in championship standings. Rally Liepāja marks title showdown in FIA ERC Ice Master trophy, which for the second year in a row can be won by Polish driver. Kajetanowicz also leads this classification, having scored 176 points in „winter” championship. Second-placed Alexey Lukyanuk trails him by 76 points.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz: – The Qualifying Stage was run almost entirely on gravel. Cars driving ahead of us during practice runs left a path on the road and we sticked to it because it offered better grip. We are happy, we setting third-fastest time so we will pick up our road position as third crew. We want to choose as low starting position as possible in order to avoid road cleaning. I would prefer driving on snow so I hope there will be some white stuff left for us on the stages [smile]. On Sunday we can expect both temperature fall and snowfall. I hope for a lot of fun behind the steering wheel. Latvian stages are great: very fast, full of medium and quick corners. Together with snow and ice it guarantees plenty of emotions in the car and spectacular competition for fans and TV viewers alike. I think this rally will be awesome and I am looking forward to the first special stage.
Jarek Baran: – At first glance the route is similar to last year but organiser decided to introduce many changes. Only one stage is completely unchanged and the remaining stages are heavily modified versions of 2014 tests. During the recce we used some of last year's pace notes but around 50% we had to prepare from scratch. However there were lots of changes and corrections even in repeating sections because in many places the edge of the road has been marked differently by snow ploughs. In winter rally it means that using pace notes from previous year is difficult because corners are profiled in a different way and their characteristics change: entry, exit and even apex can be in different place than last year. The stages are very varied although they look similar to each other. This diversifications means that the rally is interesting but so many similar sections mean that you have to rely on pace notes and timing of calling the notes. Variable rhythm of special stages does not make our job easy but at the same time it is a big challenge – I think it is the case with every co-driver.
FIA ERC standings before Rally Liepāja:
1. Kajetan Kajetanowicz (POL) 39
2. Robert Consani (FRA) 28
3. Alexey Lukyanuk (BLR) 25
4. Jaromir Tarabus (CZE) 22
5. Martin Fischeriehner (AUT) 14
6. Jonathan Hirschi (CHE) 8
7. Antonin Tlusták (CZE) 8
8. Vojtech Stajf (CZE) 4
9. Craig Breen (IRL) 3
10. David Botka (HUN) 2
FIA ERC Ice Master standings before Rally Liepāja:
1. Kajetan Kajetanowicz (POL) 176
2. Alexey Lukyanuk (BLR) 100
3. Jaromir Tarabus (CZE) 56
4. Robert Consani (FRA) 49
5. Stephane Lefebvre (FRA) 17
6. Craig Breen (IRL) 11
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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