Krzysztof Hołowczyc and Łukasz Kurzeja (Mini 4All Racing) took a commanding lead during the first running of the 144-kilometer long special stage held at a military training ground in Drawsko Pomorskie. The stage opened Saturday's leg of this year's LOTTO Baja Poland. Four-time event winner was more than four minutes faster then Nasser Al- Attiyah in a similar car. An impressive third time was set by Martin Kaczmarski who makes his debut behind the wheel of a Toyota Hilux Overdrive.
During yesterday's draft Hołowczyc chose to be the first car on the road, expecting that his good knowledge of the military area will play into his hands. Former European Rally Champion made the right call and was in a class of its own, beating two-time Dakar Rally winner Nasser Al- Attiyah. Despite a severe time loose the Qatari was happy after the stage and stressed that his unfamiliarity was the main reason for loosing to Hołowczyc.
Martin Kaczmarski, who comes back to the sport after months of recovery from a back injury, turned out to be the revelation of the rally. After the stage Martin praised the organizers of LOTTO Baja Poland for preparing the rally at the highest level. Interestingly, Martin's co-driver, Tapio Suominen won the first round of this year's FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies, Baja Russia, as a driver. Two Dutch drivers ended up just behind Kaczmarski. Also driving a Toyota, Bernhard Ten Brinken (with his Belgian co-driver Tom Colsoul) finished fourth, ahead of his compatriot Erik Van Loon in another Mini.
Fourth driver of yesterday's super stage Marek Dąbrowski was off the pace this time and finished sixth, due to a power loose in his Toyota Hilux.
Vladimir Vasilyev, second in the FIA World Cup standings at the moment, finished behind Dąbrowski, complaining about recent lack of seat time in an off-road rally car. Ninth was, making his cross country car debut, Jakub Przygoński, who finished in front of two Toyotas of Paweł Molgo/Janusz Jandrowicz and former Baja Poland winner Alexander Zheludov/Anton Nikolaev.
Adam Małysz, co-driven by three time Polish rally champion Xavier Panseri, had his fair share of bad luck. Former ski jumping legend got lost and got a puncture what resulted in loosing 11 minutes.
Quotes after the second special stage of LOTTO Baja Poland:
Krzysztof Hołowczyc / Łukasz Kurzeja (MINI All4Racing):
– I've never had a suspension like this in my life. The car is amazing. They have improved so many aspects over the last six months I've been out of the car.
Bernhard Ten Brinke / Tom Colsoul (Toyota Hilux Overdrive):
– It was good after the start but, we pushed, but later we made a mistake and lost around 1.5 minute. In general it wasn't that bad.
Nasser Al-Attiyah / Matthieu Baumel (MINI All4Racing):
– It wasn't easy. We didn't know much about the stage. We did a good job and I'm quite happy, but Hołowczyc set an incredible time.
Martin Kaczmarski / Tapio Suominen (Toyota Hilux Overdrive):
– To be honest, I'm very pleasantly surprised with the stage, it was prepared superbly. Congratulations to the organizers. The car is brilliant, co-driver even better, and the driver... well, we will know after the final results of the rally. The stage was really nice, fast and I'm really pleased.
Erik Van Loon / Wouter Rosegaar (MINI All4Racing):
– I've never been here. It's a new stage for me but it's a beautiful stage, very intense, twisty, with a lot of jumps. Everything was here. I've made a small mistake and lost a little bit of time but overall I'm satisfied.
Jakub Przygoński / Andreas Schulz (MINI All4Racing):
– It was and incredible stage. I really enjoyed driving here and we managed kept a good pace all the time. The car was brilliant and we had no navigation problems.
LOTTO Rally Team’s Krzysztof Hołowczyc has confirmed his words that the military area around Drawsko Pomorskie is his natural environment. The Olsztyn resident co-driven by Łukasz Kurzeja (MINI All4Racing) set the fastest time on the Saturday’s last stage and now has an over 6-minute advantage over two time Dakar Rally winner Nasser Al-Attiyah competing behind the wheel of MINI as well. Before the Sunday’s rivalry, Hołowczyc has a commanding lead and targets his fifth triumph in LOTTO Baja Poland. Third overall lies Martin Kaczmarski – the fastest Toyota driver so far.
After a break in the service park located in the Rally Town in Drawsko Pomorskie, all crews once again went to the military ground for the second stage of the day. Once again, being first on the road Krzysztof Hołowczyc, who needed one and a half hours to overcome 144 kilometers in the sand and dust, took the fastest time. His result was almost 2 minutes worse than that which he obtained on the morning loop, but it was enough for gaining another scratch time. As expected, it was Nasser Al-Attiyah who crossed the chequered flag, as a second competitor with LOTTO Rally Team’s Martin Kaczmarski on the third spot.
It is interesting that 4th place tie took guests from the Netherlands - Erik Van Loon (MINI All4Racing) and Bernhard Ten Brinke (Toyota Hilux Overdrive). Sixth place on the second run of section in Drawsko Pomorskie received Marek Dąbrowski and Jacek Czachor (Toyota Hilux Overdrive), who by the way have dismissed that the reason for their worse time one the first run of “Poligon Drawski" stage was caused by engine. According to Dąbrowski it was suspension that was set up inappropriately.
Seventh, this time, took Adam Małysz, who improved his previous result by more than 4 minutes, so before the Sunday’s competition, he moved up two positions. Jakub Przygoński (MINI All4Racing) is also improving his skills behind the wheel of the car and during the afternoon test he overtook the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies runner-up Vladimir Vasilyev. Baja Poland 2013 winner Alexander Zheludov (Toyota Hilux Overdrive) closes the top ten in the overall classification.
This is not the end of the excitement in this year's LOTTO Baja Poland. After Saturday's tough stages, competitors will face a double run of 65-kilometre “Dobra” test located near Szczecin. We should know the name of the winner of the eight round of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies on Sunday afternoon August 30th.
Quotes after SS3 of LOTTO Baja Poland 2015:
Krzysztof Hołowczyc / Łukasz Kurzeja (MINI All4Racing):
– We've won both stages and I'm already 6 minutes ahead of Nasser. I'm really happy and I wish to finish every day of a rally in a fashion like this. The advantage gives us a certain comfort zone, but we all know how cruel motor sport can be. Tomorrow there are two difficult stages awaiting us, so anything can happen. However the most important is the fact that, after being six months out of the car, I instantly felt at home in it. To be honest I was a little surprised when I realized that we won the first today's stage with 4 minutes over Nasser. We've drove really cleanly and I would like to thank my co-driver, Łukasz, who has kept pushing me.
Nasser Al-Attiyah / Matthieu Baumel (MINI All4Racing):
– I'm pleased with a quite good second place. During the second run of the stage at military training ground in Drawsko we had a puncture, that's why we've lost so much time. Given the circumstances, I've decided to focus on the points to the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies which I would like to win this year rather than victory in this event. Nevertheless tomorrow I would like to speed up and put some pressure on Krzysztof.
Martin Kaczmarski / Tapio Suominen (Toyota Hilux Overdrive):
– It was a great day for me. Espacially that this is my first cross country event after a year-long sabbatical. I equally happy and surprised with a third place. Above all, it was possible thanks to great effort of the team and my co-driver. Second running of the stage was a bit more difficult for me as I still suffer from a back pain. I'm really happy that there's plenty of Polish supporters along the stages. That helps me a lot. I'm also impressed with the organizers and how amazing stages they prepared.
Bernhard Ten Brinke / Tom Colsoul (Toyota Hilux Overdrive):
– The beginning of the second running of the stage was really good. We had a strong pace and as far as I know we were around second or third place most of the time. In the latter part of the stage Nasser caught up with us and used the Sentinel system. Later on he had a puncture and we overtook him. It cost us nearly a minute.
Erik Van Loon / Wouter Rosegaar (MINI All4Racing):
– Second running of the stage at the military training ground for sure was more bumpy than the first one. There was much more ruts. This is the first time I'm taking part in this rally so it's not easy to be fast right away. At the end it was a good day.
Marek Dąbrowski / Jacek Czachor (Toyota Hilux Overdrive):
– We got the set-up right during the second running of the stage and it was much better then the during the first one where I think I was driving to slowly. I should have been pushing a lot more.
Jakub Przygoński / Andreas Schulz (MINI All4Racing):
– The second running of the stage was much more difficult than the first one because there was plenty of wheel-ruts. I feel more and more comfortable in the car and I'm loosing less and less to the front-runners, so there is a progression. I'm really happy and I would like to thank my co-driver.
Adam Małysz / Xavier Panseri (MINI All4Racing):
– Surely it was better then the first running of the stage, but I'm still lacking the right rhythm. W lost the momentum on the first running of the stage and it was hard to bounce back. Happily enough we had no more adventures and we're still in the fight!
