• Argentina’s Federico Villagra to race a third MINI ALL4 Racing
This weekend (29th August to 01st September), two weeks after the win in Hungary, X-raid is going to contest the Baja Poland with three MINI ALL4 Racing. The event at Szczecin, some 150 kilometres from Berlin, is a particularly important one for Poland’s Krzysztof Holowczyc: Krzysztof is one of Poland’s most famous sportsmen and with a great result, he also can make a crucial step forward in the battle for the FIA World Cup title by stealing the lead from Jean Louis Schlesser.
But Holowczyc’s car isn’t the only MINI ALL4 Racing entered by the Trebur based team for this year’s Baja Poland. New in the MINI ALL4 RACING cockpit but already well-known in the off-road rallying scene is the young Pole Martin Kaczmarski. It’s the first event he and his co-pilot Bartłomiej Boba will race with an X-raid MINI. To date, Kaczmarski was able to secure several respectable results and due to his switch to X-raid, he now is even closer to his mentor Holowczyc. The experienced Pole has been accompanying Martin Kaczmarski since the beginning of the season and supports him with valuable advice for his off-road-rallying career.
Also new in an X-raid vehicle are the two Argentineans Federico Villagra and Jorge Perez Companc who also are going to race a MINI ALL4 Racing. The two South Americans contested the 2012 WRC season and secured several top-10 positions. In addition, Villagra has won the Argentinean rally Championship several times.
The Baja Poland will be kicked off on Friday, 30th August, with an 11.42-kilometre ‘Super Special’ not far from the service park. On Saturday, the competitors will have to cope with two 165.30-kilometre special stages and the two special stages on Sunday feature a distance of 68.78 kilometres each.
“We are delighted with Martin driving with us,” says X-raid Team Manager Sven Quandt. “He delivered in convincing style, in the previous rallies. For Krzysztof, the Baja Poland is a season highlight and he has god chances of taking the overall lead in the FIA World Cup.”
FIA World Cup standings after five rounds:
Drivers Ranking
1st Jean-Louis Schlesser 126
2nd Nani Roma 120
3rd Krzysztof Holowczyc 116
Team Ranking
1st Monster Energy X-raid 183
2nd Sonangol Schlesser 126
3rd Overdrive Racing 100
