Hołowczyc increases the lead

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! 

Organizers

Fundacja BAJA POLAND    PZM

Co-Organizers

Szczecin     Dobra Szczecińska     Drawsko Pomorskie

 

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