• Penultimate Baja in the FIA World Cup calendar 2016
Four MINI ALL4 Racing vehicles will contest the Baja Poland (26th to 28th August, 2016), the seventh round of the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup. For Krzysztof Holowczyc who was teamed-up with his young compatriot Lukasz Kurzeja, contesting the off-road event in his home country is a must. And Poland’s young Jakub ‘Kuba’ Przygonski also wants to contest the Baja Poland with Tom Colsoul in the navigator seat. Chiles Boris Garafulic and Portuguese Filipe Palmeiro form the third pairing and the fourth MINI ALL4 Racing will be raced by the two Dutchmen Erik van Loon and Wouter Rosegaar.
Actually, Holowczyc had retired from off-road racing in 2015 but the five-time Baja Poland winner just couldn’t resist the chance of contesting his home event again and with a MINI ALL4 Racing, he wants to repeat the victory he celebrated in 2015. For Przygonski who competed in the Dakar and the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, the Baja Poland will be the third appearance in the 2016 off-road racing season. For Garafulic, however, who extra travels from Chile to Poland to contest the event it will be the first off-road appearance since the Dakar. Meanwhile, van Loon and Rosegaar who had to cope with a massive dose of bad luck in the Hungarian Baja want to demonstrate that they have got what it takes to become a factor in the battle for the win.
Following the events in Italy, Spain and Hungary, the Baja Poland is the fourth consecutive Baja on the calendar. This year, the event will feature an extended mileage. The competitors will have to cover a total of 788 kilometres, with the special-stage distance amounting to 472 kilometres. Furthermore, the schedule features seven special stages instead of the five in previous Baja Poland editions. After the traditional prologue, contested on Friday not far from Szczecin, the pairings will have to contest two special stages on a military training area not far from Drawsko Pomorskie. And on Sunday, the event schedule comprises another four special stages around the city of Dobra.
