•    LOTOS Rally Team crew in the hunt for victory on Day 2 of Rally Liepāja
    •    18th stage win for Kajetanowicz and Baran in 2015
    •    Top three times for Kajetanowicz on 25 of 26 special stages run this season in FIA ERC

On Day 2 of Rally Liepāja FIA European Rally Championship leaders Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran are engaged in fierce battle for maximum amount of points for the final leg of Latvian event. LOTOS Rally Team crew sets the pace in conditions much different to yesterday’s. They won the opening stage of morning’s loop and on following two tests they recorded second fastest times. Thanks to fantastic and consistent pace Kajetan and Jarek are just behind the leaders of Day 2 classification in snowy Latvia.

This morning the crew had to face totally different conditions to those in which they competed yesterday. A lot of snow fell overnight and heavy snowfall continued throughout the day so in many places it was impossible to see the road clearly. Many drivers compared this situation to skiing off-piste.

Kajetanowicz and Baran did a great job in unexpected conditions, with limited visibility due to heavy snowfall. On the opening stage Polish crew recorded the best time, defeating rally leaders by over half a minute. On the following test they went second fastest, losing just 1.8 sec to stage winners. Unfortunately Polish crew slightly jumped the start on this stage and it meant 10-seconds penalty. Nonetheless Kajto and Jarek hold second place in classification of Day 2, remaining in the hunt for victory on final leg of Rally Liepāja. LOTOS Rally Team crew showed great pace also on the longest stage in the loop – over 22-kms long – with average speed exceeding 111 kph on extremely slippery and narrow road.

Kajetan Kajetanowicz: – We feel very well on today’s stages. There is a lot of snow on the road and our tyre choice was fantastic, even better than yesterday. We still gather experience but at the same time we are happy with the times we set. On the first stage – which we won – we got front left puncture. Fortunately it was a slow one so we changed the wheel after finish. In order to save weight we took just one spare and it was right-side tyre but anyway we were able to go fast on two following stages. Today we have real winter conditions. The weather is perfect, great for rallying and we often go sideways. This rally is fantastic. We feel incredible emotions on very fast special stages. In some places it snows heavily and it is difficult to see where the road goes. It just spices up the battle and brings us more adrenaline. This is typical winter rally: you have to drive fast in exceptionally tough conditions. Concentration is essential and we stay focused all the time. I am very happy that everyone in our team works very hard so that I can make good use of everything I get from them.


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