Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran have started round two of FIA European Rally Championship with zest and currently they hold position right behind rally leaders. On all three opening stages, with total length of 61 kilometres, Kajetanowicz not only recorded top-three times but also clinched FIA ERC Ice Master title. His advantage in "winter" classification reached 82 points and after retirement of his main opponent Kajto has already secured top position in the standings.

Competition on Latvian roads started with 16-kms stage which did not resemble a winter rally at all. Everyone agreed that the surface was extremely slippery and most drivers were struggling to stay on road rather than fighting for the best times. There was plenty of water and slush on road. In these unusual conditions Kajto and Jarek displayed quick but also consistent and confident pace, recording third fastest time.

Then came record-breaking Kuldīga test, over 37-kms long. Despite mixed grip conditions, LOTOS Rally Team crew maintained great pace on this stage and they were rewarded with second fastest time. Alexey Lukyanuk did not reach the finish line of this test. Two top-three times for Kajetan and Lukyanuk’s retirement meant that right at the beginning of competition Kajetanowicz secured another award in European Championship: FIA ERC Ice Master title.

Kajetanowicz and Baran repeated their successful performance on final stage of the loop. Freshly crowned Ice Master showed fantastic pace on mixed test, including twisty and narrow parts, as well as extremely fast sections. Polish crew finished the first loop of Latvian FIA ERC counter in second position overall, enjoying almost half a minute advantage over third-placed rivals.

Kajetan Kajetanowicz: – Of course I am very happy with the times I set, especially when you take into account the fact that I am not used to these conditions and tyres. I am also happy that we won FIA ERC Ice Master title. Our main competitor retired from the rally so we can already say that we are the winners. Obviously his retirement does not please us at all because he drove brilliantly. However, he made a mistake and went off the road. Alexey Lukyanuk showed us how quickly you can go in this rally because he knows it very well – also he has experience with long-studded tyres which we use here. Sometimes I wonder whether to brake or maybe to wait a little, whether to open the throttle mid-corner or to do it a bit later. I have a lot of such moments but I am very happy that we are here, we maintain very good pace and I learn a lot. This rally brings us great emotions. The conditions are not easy. There are many tricky sections, lots of places where it is difficult to read the road and foresee the grip. We enter the corner thinking that the grip is good and suddenly the rear of the car steps out and we go sideways at 150 kph. There are many places like this. This year the conditions in Latvia are a bit different. Temperature is a little higher and there is a lot of mud, so the studs do not wear as much as last year. So far this rally have been very successful for us. We are still in the hunt and we are leading European Championship standings.

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