The home hero Kajetan Kajetanowicz has taken an early lead on Rally Rzeszow after a commanding performance on the street stage spectacular that kicked off round seven of the FIA European Rally Championship.
The last driver into the stage with the running order reversed, LOTOS Rally Team driver Kajetanowicz blitzed the opposition, going 3.8 seconds faster than anyone else around the four-kilometre course in the centre of Rzeszow.
The Ford Fiesta R5 driver said: “This is an important stage, a stage for fun, for the fans. They are great, they are everywhere. The atmosphere is perfect.”
Tipped before the event to be Kajetanowicz’s strongest rival, having won Rally Rzeszow four times before, Frenchman Bryan Bouffier was second quickest. Current Polish champion Łukasz Habaj was third, while Raul Jeets edged out Gregorz Grzyb for fourth by 0.1 seconds.
Dávid Botka was sixth followed by Filip Nivette, while the ERC2 points leader Wojciech Chuchała took eighth followed by Tomasz Kasperczyk and Jakub Brzeziński.
Chuchała’s ERC2 rival Tibor Érdi Jr lost 50 seconds in the stage because of a lack of turbo pressure on his Mitsubishi. Jarosław Kołtun dropped 20s relative to Kajetanowicz after a spin, not helped by his headlights not working. Tomasz Gryc set the pace in ERC3. Click here for live timing.
photo: RallyFoto.pl / Marcin Kaliszka
