• LOTOS Rally Team driver extends his lead in FIA ERC thanks to the points scored for the 3rd place in Leg 1;
• Kajetanowicz is the fastest foreign driver in his second outing in Czech event;
• Polish crew raises the bar in FIA European Rally Championship with impressive efficiency: 76 top three finishes on 89 special stages (85%);
• Rapid progress in pace during the whole day: on the final test the Poles missed the stage victory by just 0.2 seconds;
• On the last loop Kajetanowicz and Baran closed the gap to second-placed Vaclav Pech Junior – Czech rally champions leads them by just over 20 seconds.

Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran have found a perfect compromise between impressive pace and confident, effective driving against extremely strong opponents. LOTOS Rally Team crew recorded four runner-up spots on today’s eight very difficult, classic Czech stages and went third fastest on another three tests. Kajto and Jarek defeated not only all regular FIA ERC contenders, including their biggest rival in championship battle, but also many experienced local drivers. They trail only factory Skoda driver and three-time winner of this event, Jan Kopecky, and Vaclav Pech Junior – the reigning Czech rally champion who competes in Barum Czech Rally Zlin for the 18th time in his career. Furthermore, on 141.5 competitive kilometres covered so far by the drivers, the difference in average speeds between Kopecky and Kajetanowicz was just 1.22 kph.

The fastest foreign crew in the Czech FIA ERC counter raised another bar today: the total number of special stages, on which they recorded top three times, reached 76. This means that Kajto and Jarek finished 85% of this year’s stages in top three. High positions on the stages enabled Kajetanowicz to close the gap to Craig Breen in FIA ERC Asphalt Masters standings. There are still six special stages to go in tightly fought round 7 of FIA ERC, including the longest test of the rally: Trojak, at 23 kms. Sunday leg consists of 87.3 kms of competitive driving and the results of 45th Barum Czech Rally Zlin will be known tomorrow around 3 pm CET.

Kajetan Kajetanowicz: – Quick driving on such demanding stages gives us a lot of pleasure. We are happy with our pace and the fact that we are able to match extremely fast Czech drivers who know these stages very well. Sometimes we are close to Jan Kopecky and Vaclav Pech and on some stages we split them. Today at the finish line of two stages our brakes caught fire. These things do not happen very often and it proves how hard we push. The rally is long, tomorrow we face the second part of the battle so we need a good rest in order to stay focused right from the beginning and to push like today. The stages will be different and it is a huge challenge, especially after tough first leg. High temperatures do not cause us big problems so far but it is not easy to regenerate after such intense day. We are happy and I want to thank the whole LOTOS Rally Team for their hard work. The day was undoubtedly successful for us and now we are going to have a rest – definitely a well-deserved rest [smile].

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.