Overdrive Racing’s Martin Kaczmarski continued his successful return to cross-country rallying after a 10-year absence by finishing seventh overall and fifth in the Ultimate category in the three-day Columna Medica Baja Poland.
The Pole teamed up with Spanish co-driver Armand Monleón to record three third quickest times and overcame first stage delays to gain valuable experience on his home fourth round of the FIA World Baja Cup.
Kaczmarski said: « It was a really nice Baja to be honest. Yesterday, it was a beautiful stage and the first loop today was also good. Unfortunately, the second loop today was really dirty and not so safe in my opinion. I’m happy. We had a good position. The Toyota Ultimate, I enjoy to drive very much. »
Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi and his German co-driver Timo Gottschalk were forced to retire their Toyota Hilux shortly after the start of the opening stage with transmission issues. Al-Rajhi had led the Ultimate category and was placed second in the overall Drivers’ Championship before the Polish event.
Al-Rajhi and Kaczmarski finished the opening Prologue stage of 9.40km in second and 11th but the outcome only determined the starting positions for the opening 152.80km stage through the nearby military proving ranges at Drawsko Pomorskie.
Shortly after the start of the opening stage, Al-Rajhi was sidelined with transmission issues.
As Gottschalk explained: « So Baja Poland ended earlier than expected for us. We were, I think, going at a good speed in the first part of the stage. But a part in the transmission broke and we really could not move properly any more with the soft sand. We decided to stop because we were stuck deep in the forest. The race was over because it made no sense to continue with the other competitors in the other groups. »
Kaczmarski completed the first pass through the stage in 11th place and fourth in the Ultimate category after collecting a puncture. Co-driver Monleón said: « We are coming back to the speed and carrying the momentum but we got a flat tyre on the sandy piste. One stone was hiding in the sand and we had a flat left tyre. It was also messy with the tricky navigation. »
The Pole was third quickest on the second pass and reached the night halt in Szczecin in ninth overall.
The final morning’s action was completed by a pair of 25.00km stages. They started in Slawoszewo and finished at Szczecin Zawadzkiego and were split into two sections of 14.78km and 10.22km.
Kaczmarski clocked the third quickest time on the opener and moved up to eighth overall. He said: « It was a tricky stage with a lot of slippery tracks between the trees in the shadow. The second part was the Prologue we did on Friday and that was destroyed and bumpy. That was a good test for us and the car. »
Another third fastest time on the final stage enabled the Pole to move up to seventh overall in the final classification.
The FIA World Baja Cup resumes with Portugal’s BP Ultimate Baja Portalegre 500 on October 17th-19th.
2024 Columna Medica Baja Poland – final result
1. João Ferreira (PRT)/Filipe Palmeiro (PRT) Mini JCW Rally Plus, 3hr 44min 12.1sec
2. Michal Maluszyński (POL)/Julita Maluszyńska (POL) Mini JCW Rally Plus, 3hr 47min 05.9sec*
3. Ghislain de Mévius (BEL)/Johan Jalet (BEL) G Rally Team OT3, 3hr 57min 04.4sec
4. Wlodzimierz Grajek (POL)/Michal Goleniewski (POL) Toyota Hilux, 3hr 59min 00.2sec*
5. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SVK) Ford F-150 Evo+, 4hr 00min 45.4sec
6. Eduardo Pons (ESP)/Jaume Betriu (ESP) Taurus T3 Max, 4hr 00min 48.9sec
7. Martin Kaczmarski (POL)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive, 4hr 01min 03.0sec
8. Hans Weijs (NLD)/Mark Salomons (NLD) Arcane T3, 4hr 01min 13.5sec*
9. Alexandre Pinto (PRT)/Bernando Oliveira (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3, 4hr 06min 58.1sec*
10. Tomasz Bialkowski (POL)/Dariusz Baśkiewicz (POL) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR, 4hr 08min 47.7sec*
11. Fernando Alvarez (ARG)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR, 4hr 14min 41.9sec
12. Miguel Toril (ESP)/Rosa Romero (ESP) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR, 4hr 27min 05.7sec
13. Diego Martinez ARG)/Sergio Lafuente (URY) Can-Am Maverick, 4hr 29min 10.8sec
14. Magdalena Zajac (POL)/Blażej Czekan (POL) Toyota Hilux, 4hr 29min 18.7sec
15. Khalid Al-Jafla (ARE)/Andrei Rudnitski (LTU) Taurus T3 Max, 4hr 29min 53.5sec
16. Amerigo Ventura (ITA)/Erika Mingozzi (ITA) Yamaha YXZ 1000 R, 4hr 34min 41.2sec
17. Mark Mustermann (AUT)/Michael Zajc (AUT) Can-Am Maverick X3, 4hr 35min 48.5sec*
18. Vincent Vroninks (BEL)/Dave Berghmans (BEL) Red-Lined Nissan Navara VK56, 4hr 43min 50.6sec*
19. Tomasz Baranovski (POL)/Konrad Dudziński (POL) Toyota Hilux, 4hr 45min 28.9sec
20. Claude Fournier (FRA)/Serge Gounon (FRA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR, 4hr 52min 07.6sec
21. Ibrahim Al-Muhanna (SAU)/Hassan Ali Obaid (ARE) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR, 4hr 59min 38.1sec
22. Vic Flip (AUT)/Gerhard Schmiedberger (AUT) Can-Am Maverick X3, 5hr 06min 38.4sec*
23. Richard Aczel (GBR)/Wouter Rosegaar (NLD) Arcane T3, 5hr 58min 43.3sec*
24. Alex Toril (ESP)/Pedro Lopez (ESP) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR, 6hr 58min 16.4sec
Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Toyota Hilux Overdrive, RETIRED – SS1
Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Lukasz Kurzeja (POL) BMW X3, RETIRED – PROLOGUE
*denotes not registered for FIA World Baja Cup,