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Dariusz Poloński and Łukasz Sitek turned their gravel debut into another valuable result in the Abarth Rally Cup. After the third place won in the beginning of May in the Canary Islands Rally, this weekend they finish the next round of the Cup in the European Rally Championship on second place.
The crew of Zabrze and Ustroń fought at the Liepaja Rally (May 24th-26th) also in the RGT class and in the ERC 2 category, in which they took third and fourth place respectively. They started the Latvian ERC round with a second time, and at the end of the first loop they had the best time after passing the longest special stage of over 28 km. After the second day of the trial and at the closing of the Saturday stage they gave Polish fans a huge reason to be proud - they became leaders among the Abarth crews.
For the Sunday, longer part of the Liepaja Rally (106 km), the Rallytechnology team moved another strong accent, winning the first of eight special stages. Unfortunately, at this point, their good streak left them, and on subsequent attempts their car turned twice. The first adventure cost them the loss of a half-minute advantage, and the second time, after falling out, they spent more than a minute outside the road. It was not possible to recover from such a large loss, but on the way to the finishing line in Liepaja, they won the last but one trial. They did not defend the result of the first day, but the second place still remains their best result, won in spite of so modest so far experience in driving a rear drive car on gravel surface. After two rounds, Polonski and Sitek have 33 points on their account and will come to the Rally Poland as the vice-leaders of the cycle.
Robert Gabryszewski (Rallytechnology team manager): "Rally Liepaja did not spare us emotions this year. The struggle on gravel was hard, hard for both the crews and their equipment. Darek and Łukasz did not have an easy debut neither did they avoid problems. However, they presented a wise and effective ride, which is best confirmed by four won stages. They deserved big congratulations for such an attitude on the hellishly fast routes. Abarth also showed its great construction, which works well not only on asphalt. It gives the crew a lot of fun, but also to fans who love spectacular ride in the RWD style.
From Latvia we are bringing 18 important points, but even more valuable is the experience gained on gravel. We can say the Liepaja Rally was a big plus for us and we can’t wait to the start in Mikołajki. Soon we will see Masuria on the last weekend of June."
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