– Holowczyc wins all special stages
– Maluszynski finishes third in the MINI JCW Rally 3.0i
Baja Poland once again proved to be a successful event for X-raid – the team from Trebur / Germany claimed victory at the rally near Szczecin for the eleventh time. This year, Krzysztof Holowczyc celebrated a personal milestone: the Pole secured his tenth career victory at Baja Poland. Together with his Polish co-driver Lukasz Kurzeja, he set the fastest time on every special stage in the MINI JCW Rally 3.0i. Michal Maluszynski and Julita Maluszynska also climbed onto the podium, finishing their home rally in third place.
There was no way past Holowczyc and Kurzeja this year. Already on Friday, they won the prologue in the MINI JCW Rally 3.0i. Holowczyc later chose to start first on the road in order to avoid the dust from the competition. Although this meant opening the stages on Saturday, he still set the fastest time twice and entered the final day as overall leader. There, he extended his advantage further and won with a gap of around 15 minutes to second place!
Maluszynski also showed strong pace. He finished three of the four stages and the prologue inside the top three. Only on the second stage did they lose a few minutes, crossing the line in eighth. Pushing hard afterwards, they managed to secure a strong third place – just one minute behind the runner-up.
With this victory, Holowczyc was also able to further extend his lead in the Polish Off-road Championship standings.
For X-raid, there’s only a short break: in just under two weeks, the team from Trebur will compete at Baja Sharish Reguengos/Mourão in Portugal.
Statement
Krzysztof Holowczyc (MINI JCW Rally 3.0i): « You always think Baja Poland is very short. But even though today we only drove very short stages, I was completely drenched in sweat. Baja Poland is my home rally, and I have now been able to win it ten times. I’m absolutely thrilled about that. Here I always give more than 100%. The MINI worked perfectly too – it’s a fantastic car! »
Overall standings
1. K. Holowczyc / L. Kurzeja – MINI JCW Rally 3.0i – 3h 44m 00s
2. W. Grajek / M. Goleniewski – Toyota – 3h 59m 47s
3. M. Maluszynski / J. Maluszynska – MINI JCW Rally 3.0i – 4h 00m 48s
4. B. Vanagas / A. Paliukenas – Toyota – 4h 01m 06s
5. A. Kus / D. Tsyro – Taurus – 7m 53s – 4h 03m 45s …