Krzysztof Holowczyc and Łukasz Kurzeja show excellent pace during the High Grzeda Baja Poland 2021. The Mini John Cooper Works crew won both Saturday's stages of the rally held on the military training ground in Drawsko Pomorskie. Before Sunday's stages, the Poles increased their lead over the second crew to 8 minutes and 27 seconds, giving a real show of driving on the longest and most difficult special sections in Poland.
Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Michael Or, making their debut in Baja Poland, found themselves very comfortable on the demanding routes prepared by the organization. After three completed stages, the Toyota Hilux crew is in the second position in the overall standings and has nearly three minutes advantage over Yasir Seaidan and Alexei Kuzmich (Mini John Cooper Works Rally), who lead in the Baja FIA World Cup points. The top three of the FIA World Cup and FIA European Cup classifications are also exactly the same.
Saturday's stage program featured a double run of the "Drawsko Pomorskie" stage with over 184 kilometers long! The best crews needed almost two hours to complete this stage, proving the high level of difficulty of the High Grzeda Baja Poland, which is the tenth round of the FIA World Cup this year. The stages, drawn on the military training ground in Drawsko Pomorskie, were a great test for the competitors and their equipment. Before the start of the competition, Krzysztof Hołowczyc strongly emphasized the need to respect the cars with which the teams compete on the difficult terrain of the military training ground. The FIA World Cup winner became painfully convinced of it last year when, after his car broke down, he lost his chance for a seemingly certain victory.
After Saturday's leg, in addition to leading the overall standings of the FIA World Cup and the FIA European Cup, Krzysztof Holowczyc and Łukasz Kurzeja also lead the standings of the FIA CEZ, the Czech Republic Championship, and the Polish Cross-Country Rally Championship.
Behind Holowczyc are Yazeed Al.-Rajhi and Michael Orr in second place, while BenediktasVanagas and FilipePalmeiro (Toyota Hilux) are in third.
In the Central European Cup (FIA CEZ), Tomasz Białkowski and Dariusz Baśkiewicz on the Polaris RZR PRO XP are in second place. Polish team leads also in T4 group.Third place in FIA CEZ is taken by Miroslav Zapletal and Marek Sykora (Ford F-150 EVO).
In the classification of Dacia Duster Motrio Cup, which is a part of Polish Cross-Country Rally Championship, the leaders areDominik Jazic with Krzysztof Kuszewski. In T2 group after three special stages the fastest is Grzegorz Szwagrzyk and Jakub Moliter (Mitsubishi Pajero). In T3, Kees Koolen and Mirjam Pol (Overdrive OT3) are the leaders. In TH group the fastest team is Sławomir Jabłoński and Rafał Jędrys, and in T5 (trucks) Tomas Vratny, Jaromir Martinec and Pavel Novak (Ford Cargo).
Karol Jucha and Inez Kieliba (Can-Am Maverick X3) lead in the Baja Poland Series classification.
Maciej Giemza, representing Orlen Team, maintains an incredible pace. The motorcyclist with Husqvarna FR450 has won three tests so far and confidently leads in the general classification of the Polish Rally Championship in Baja. Tomasz Wikowicz holds the second position in the motorcycle classification, Przemysław Wójcik, classified in the Polish Rally Baja Cup, is third. Rafał Jawień (PolarisScrambler S) confidently leads in the four-wheel-drive quads classification (Q4), and Mariusz Wojtasik (Suzuki LTR WMS) came out on top in Q2 (single-axle quads).
In the Polish Cross-Country Rally Cup, Arkadiusz Nadolny and Kamil Heller lead the SSV group. In S2 the fastest team is Tomasz Piluch with Marcin Pawłowski, and in S1 - Maciej and Beata Pelc.
Baja Poland 2021 has nearly 430 km of special sections. The route was set in Szczecin, on the military training ground in Drawsko Pomorskie and in the Dobra municipality.
On Sunday, the competition will cover a distance of nearly 54 kilometers on special sections run twice: Lubieszyn-Dobra and Dobra-Szczecin.
The High Grzeda Baja Poland finish line ceremony is scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Around 12.30 at the Dąbie airfield in Szczecin, the crews competing in the Polish Cross-Country Car Rally Cup and the Baja Poland Series will arrive. At 13.00 there will be a ceremony for the competitors competing in the Polish Championship in Baja Rally and Polish Cup in Baja Rally. First competitors competing in FIA World Cup, FIA European Cup, FIA CEZ, RMPST and MMCR should report at the finish line around 14.30.
Automatically translated from the official press release
Source Baja Poland
