• Krzysztof Holowczyc wins with his MINI ALL4 Racing
• Khalifa AL Mutaiwei extends his FIA World Cup lead
Together with his Portuguese co-driver Filipe Palmeiro, Poland’s MINI ALL4 Racing driver Krzysztof Holowczyc won the three-day event. At the same time, the Baja Poland was the sixth FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup round for Khalifa Al Mutaiwei from Dubai and his German navigator Andreas Schulz. In the MINI ALL4 Racing entered by the Fazza Rally Team they came sixth, thus finishing ahead of France’s Jean-Louis Schlesser, their rival in the battle for the World Cup title.
In front of his home crowd, Holowczyc really went for it – to win three of the five special stages. Only in the prologue and the special stage contested on Saturday morning, he had to settle for finishing runner-up. On Saturday he lost time due to a puncture and nonetheless, he was just 49 seconds slower than the winner, Miroslav Zapletal. But from that point in time, Holowcycz proved to be invincible and secured win by win. To prevail in the five-special stage event with a lead of more than 14 minutes over Zapletal, in the end.
Meanwhile, Khalifa Al Mutaiwei encountered a major moment of shock, on Saturday. On the tight and twisty track, the driver from Dubai hit a tree – but could continue following a short repair stop and even defended his position among the front-runners. In the following special stages, he opted for a more tactical approach and took no risks – while just focusing on defending his position ahead of Schlesser in the overall standings. And he succeeded in doing so by finishing sixth.
“A good result for us,” said Monster Energy X-raid Team Manager Sven Quandt.
“We were aware that local hero Krzysztof would give his very best, here in Poland, to make it to the very front. And Khalifa certainly also would have clinched a top result, without his close encounter with the tree. But at the end of the day, he realised the most important goal: to finish ahead of Schlesser.”
The seventh FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup round, the Pharaons International Cross Country Rally in Egypt, will be held in late September.
Overall result Baja Poland:
1st K. Holowczyc (POL)/ F. Palmeiro (POR) MINI ALL4 Racing – 6h 39m 26s
2nd M. Zapletal (CZE) / M. Marton (POL) H3 Evo - 6h 54m 25m
3rd E. Korda (HUN) / C. Fabian (HUN) Toyota – 7h 03m 49m
...
6th K. Al Mutaiwei (UAE) / A. Schulz (GER) MINI ALL4 Racing – 7h 20m 21s
