It was only the second outing in classic Barum Czech Rally Zlin for the four-time Polish rally champion, but the performance of LOTOS Rally Team driver impressed the fans and observers alike. In round seven of FIA European Rally Championship Kajetan Kajetanowicz and his co-driver Jarek Baran displayed extremely consistent and quick pace. The statistics prove the excellent performance of Polish crew: one stage victory, seven runner-up spots and four 3rd places. Kajetan and Jarek defeated not only all FIA ERC frontrunners but also many Czech drivers – and some of them have more than dozen outings in this rally under their belts. Only two Czech rally champions and multiple winners of this event beat them to the finish line: Jan Kopecky of Skoda factory team and Vaclav Pech Junior who contested Barum Czech Rally Zlin for the 18th time in his career.

Kajto and Jarek scored 26 points in this rally: 15 for the third position in overall classification, five and six for the results achieved on Day 1 and 2 respectively. It means that with three rounds to go Kajetanowicz and Baran lead the FIA ERC standings with advantage of 23 points over second-placed Craig Breen. LOTOS Rally Team driver also scored 69 points towards FIA ERC Asphalt Masters classification in Barum Czech Rally Zlin, reducing Breen’s advantage to 29 points. This season Kajetanowicz and Baran impress with their performance irrespective of surface and conditions. Polish crew scored 28 victories and 81 top three places on 95 special stages run so far.

Kajetan Kajetanowicz: – There is no other rally outside Poland with so many Polish fans: there were thousands of them. It was an extremely important event for us, not only from this point of view. Some fans are probably used to our achievements but I want to assure you that we work very hard for every single success. The heart of every LOTOS Rally Team member is filled with passion so for us it is easier to sacrifice a lot in order to achieve more. Only we know how much effort and work each European Championship point costs us but I am very glad that we can share the joy of scoring them with others. This time we moved closer to our ultimate goal although the road can still prove to be very rough.

Jarek Baran: – Before each rally you choose a strategy and analyse the pecking order. Third place achieved by us in Barum Czech Rally Zlin is a result which in theory seemed realistic. However, we expected that the podium finish would require a lot of effort. As usual, the organisers had prepared a very demanding route and all European and Czech frontrunners appeared in Zlin. On top of that we had to fight in tropical conditions and it was probably the most difficult thing in this rally. It was another good event for LOTOS Rally Team.