Rally dust blew away long time ago, bepowdering half of year of fight on Polish off-road tracks. Cross-country rally season in Poland 2019 is over, titles won. This year there were a few novelties – new rallies, new regulations, new faces, everything else was the old way. Also, among this year’s champions there are a few new and a few old ones.
What, where, when?
Although new rally season in Poland was to start in March with a new rally – Baja Europe, it finally kicked off with Wysoka Grzęda Baja Drawsko in April, as usual. And, as usual, it was a hard kick, as competitors and their machines after the winter break had to say “hello” to rallying with 140 km long stage on Drawsko military polygon, run twice. Next, in June, the rally caravan moved from the north to the south of Poland, to the charming Kłodzko Valley, where one of two new rounds, Geotermia Lądek-Zdrój Cross-Country Rally took place. It was a “sprint” rally, but running in completely new, mountainous landscape. The “vacation” round, held at the beginning of August, was, again, Polskie Safari Rally, which took competitors to central Poland, near Przasnysz. Here they raced on dirt roads, running among fields and forests. Like very year, Orlen Baja Poland, with HQ in Szczecin, held in late August and early September, was the highlight of the season. As a round of FIA World Cup – this time divided to cross-country and baja rallies – and FIM-E European Championship, it hosted brilliant foreign competitors, and for Polish ones it was a chance to fight with them on the tracks of Drawsko military polygon and in the surroundings of Szczecin and Dobra. What was the most important, it gave them a possibility to score much more points for the championship than other rounds. At the end of September, competitors met again at Baja Szczecinek, which already decided on some of the titles. All-year competition was ended by October’s Baja Europe, new position in Polish calendar, but held on the well-known tracks of polygon in Żagań. Rivalry on Żagań tracks used to end the season, so it was kind of comeback to the past, but in completely new version, with a new organizer.
The Champions
This season for the Polish Champion’s title fought… two Polish Champions. Paweł Molgo and Janusz Jandrowicz, winners of 2014 and 2015, and Czech Miroslav Zapletal, defending last year’s title, accompanied this year by Slovak co-driver Marek Sykora, were those who competed for this year’s trophy. Crews in UTVs tried to interrupt those two crews on their way to victory, but those were the T1s, who were eventually victorious in this battle. Miroslav Zapletal won the season’s opener Wysoka Grzęda Baja Drawsko and the penultimate round, Baja Szczecinek, and in the other rounds he scored 2nd, 3rd and 4th, what was enough to celebrate defending the Polish Champion’s title already after Szczecinek – in T1 group and overall as well. In turn, Paweł Molgo triumphed in Polskie Safari Rally, twice was 2nd, once 3rd and once 5th, but in Baja Europe he had to compete for the Vice-Champion’s title with UTV crew of Mirosław Stocerz and Rafał Marton. He won this battle and he also won double Vice-Champion’s title – in T1 and overall, and Mirosław Stocerz gained 2nd Vice-Champion’s title overall and Champion’s title in UTV group. Włodzimierz Grajek and Piotr Brakowiecki completed the podium in T1 group, becoming 2nd Vice-Champions.
UTV crews once again showed that they are able to compete with T1 cars, a proof of what is the fact that these vehicles scored 3rd, 4th and 5th places in season’s overall classification. They also had an exciting battle among themselves. There were 4 main players in this game – crews: Mirosław Stocerz and Rafał Marton, Tomasz Białkowski and Dariusz Baśkiewicz, and two drivers who changed their co-drivers during the season: Marek Kubiczek and Marek Goczał. Here, Mirosław Stocerz and Rafał Marton occurred the best crew, winning two rallies, being twice 2nd and once 3rd, not finishing only the rally in Lądek-Zdrój. They won Polish Champions title a round before the end of the season. And the fight for the Vice-Champions title went on until the last kilometers of the season – eventually Tomasz Białkowski and Dariusz Baśkiewicz won it. 2nd Vice-Champion title went to Marek Kubiczek.
Although there were a few new T2 crews, 3 teams were the core of T2 group competition, who were the only ones classified at the end of the season. Thus, the only title to be won, was the Polish Champions title. Grzegorz Szwagrzyk and Jakub Moliter, Tomasz Piec and Michał Marczewski, Tomasz Baranowski and Grzegorz Konczak were those who fought for it. The unbeatable ones in this battle were Szwagrzyk and Moliter, who won 5 rounds and were able to miss the 6th one, having already won the title. In Baja Europe, Piec and Baranowski fought for the 2nd place, and it was Piec who became victorious.
Jacek Soboń and Przemysław Markowski were not very successful last year, finishing 2018 season with 2nd Vice-Champions title in TH group. But this year it was them who were completely unbeatable – they won all rounds by a huge margin, thus winning the Polish Champions title. But the Vice-Champions title had to be fought for. The main rivals in this game were Jarosław Andrzejewski with Maciej Radomski and Łukasz Bzdyl with Mariusz Włosiński, although there were a few other crews standing on podiums of particular rallies. Finally, Baja Europe decided on this competition, which brought the Vice-Champions title to Andrzejewski, after scoring 2nd in the rally. Bzdyl became 2nd Vice-Champion.
Text: Anna Michalska
Photo: Grzegorz Kozera
