Baja Poland : Nasser Al-Attiyah is the first leader

The most important motorsport event in Poland has started. First leaders of Wysoka Grzęda Baja Poland 2020 are Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel in Toyota Hilux, followed by three Polish crews – Hołowczyc / Kurzeja, Małuszyński / Małuszyńska and Przygoński / Gottschalk. In the entire rally, the competitors will cover 406 km on the routes in Szczecin, Dobra and Drawsko Pomorskie.

The biggest stars of cross-country rallies came to Szczecin, returning to the competition after more than a six-month break. A strong field is a guarantee of amazing emotions from the very beginning. And so it was already during the qualifying stage in Szczecin, which was just over 7 km long. The test required maximum concentration, because the slightest mistake could affect the further fate of the competition. In the end, the qualifying stage allowed the fastest drivers to choose the optimal starting positions before Saturday’s special stages at the military training ground in Drawsko Pomorskie. And this is quite a down payment.

The first car from the Belgian Overdrive Racing stable, namely Toyota Hilux Przygoński and Gottschalk, will start on Saturday. They will be followed by the Małuszyński couple, and then Hołowczyc with Kurzeja and the Al-Attiyah / Baumiel and Peterhansel / Boulanger crews.

The muddy route of the QS-Szczecin test was covered by the Nasser Al-Attiyah / Mathieu Baumel duo the fastest. The Toyota Hilux crew scored 7: 22.3. The second ones at the finish line, Hołowczyce and Kurzeja, lost 10.6 seconds, and the third, Małuszyński, 13.3 seconds. (both crews in the Mini John Cooper Works Rally). Fourth place for Kuba Przygoński, piloted by Timo Gottschalk (Toyota Hilux). The rally’s top ten finished in 52 seconds.

The fastest crew in the T4 vehicle (UTV vehicles) was Farres Guell / Monleon Hernandez. The Pietrzycki are leading the Dacia Duster Motrio Cup, Soboń and Markowski (Nissan Navarra) in the TH group, and the Toyota Land Cruiser 120 by the Grabowski / Gwiazda duo is the highest-ranked car from the T2 group. The fastest truck is driven by the Valtr / Valtr / Kaplanek trio in Iveco Powerstar.

Among the motorcyclists competing in the MPRB (Polish Baja Rally Championship), Maciej Giemza (Husqvarna) from Orlen Team showed the shortest time, ahead of Tomasz Witkiewicz (KTM) and Jan Brabec (Husqvarna). In the quad competition, the first episode was won by Marcin Wilkołek (Polaris), and the top three also included Marcin Talaga (Can-Am) and Jan Stolarczyk (Can-Am).

On Saturday, drivers and pilots will face the military training ground in Drawsko Pomorskie, where a 172.31 km long special stage has been marked out, which the competitors will cover twice. Saturday’s service will also be located in Drawsko Pomorskie, and the crews and their services will return to Szczecin for the night. On Sunday, the competition will take place at a distance of almost 54 km on run twice two special stages of Lubieszyn-Dobra and Dobra-Szczecin.

About Wysoka Grzęda Baja Poland said:

Kuba Przygoński, Toyota Hilux: I miss kilometers behind the wheel of a Hilux. I’m looking forward to racing. Due to rain, puddles and mud it will be a very difficult competition. I hope that my driving will allow me to avoid mistakes. We must, of course, risk, because only this will allow us to fight for victory. The rivals are really strong.

Nasser Al-Attiyah, Toyota Hilux: I am glad that I am at Wysoka Grzęda Baja Poland, because I stayed at home for eight months. Thank you PZM for inviting me to this rally. This is a very important start for me. We want to have fun here, but our goal is to win. Of course, the stakes are very strong. Hołowczyc is one of the biggest rivals, but we came here to win.

Stephane Peterhansel, Mini All4 Racing: This season is very strange and it was very important for me to start now because I have a new pilot. We decided to cooperate only a few weeks ago, so Wysoka Grząa Baja Poland will be a test of how our cooperation is going. We are driving a car in an older specification, but only this was available in the X-Raid team at that time, so a place in the top five will be satisfactory for us.

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