The Rally of Poland is undoubtedly an event that has always evoked the greatest emotions in the hearts of fans on the Vistula River. The 77th edition was awaited not only by fans from Poland, but also from all over Europe. The rally is back after the pandemic break, but under exceptional circumstances and in an even more impressive line-up. In addition to the fight in the second round of the Polish championship, the competition for the rally crown of the Old Continent will begin. The combination of the FIA ERC and ProfiAuto RSMP cycles has made over 100 teams from Poland and Europe come to Mikołajki. All that in the background of the unusual 100th anniversary of the rally.
The colors of the Rallytechnology could not be missing next to the best teams. Like at the beginning of June in the Żmudź Rally, Rallytechnology will support three duos. The company from Rybnik inaugurated the Polish season by supporting three R5 category cars in Lithuania - Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 for Tomasz Kasperczyk and Zbigniew Gabryś and Hyundai i20 R5 for Daniel Chwist (who was preparing for the start of the Safari Rally Kenya 2021 - the sixth round of the FIA WRC). With the same line-up, the crew arrived at the finish line in Kielmy, noting the first valuable points.
The start in Lithuania was an introduction to the most important of this year's challenges that the ProfiAuto RSMP 2021 competitors will face. Tomasz Kasperczyk and Damian Syty, classified fifth after the first round, in the heavily staffed RC2 category, received the highest starting number, 15th. One of their 44 competitors will be teammates in the second Polo GTI R5 - Zbigniew Gabryś and Krzysztof Janik. For the driver from Brzeszcze, who returns to the stages of Rally Poland after over 14 years of break, he will make his seventh start in Masuria behind the wheel of an R5 car.
The third driver of Rallytechnology, however, can boast the richest experience in this group. Dariusz Poloński, signed up to compete this weekend in the RGT group and Class 2. Like Zbigniew Gabryś, he made his debut in the Rally Poland in 2000, and so far he has stood at the start as many as 10 times. This upcoming, jubilee edition will be a total of 117 starts in the career of a competitor from Zabrze. Łukasz Sitek was his partner in 26 of them. In a Class 2 field dominated by 4WD cars, the duo will stay true to the rear-wheel drive. Their Abarth 124 Rally RGT was given a race number “52”.
The entire stake of the 77th Rally Poland is 203 km long, which consists of 8 different special stages, covered 14 times in total. The route of the gravel round of the European Championships and the Polish Championships also included 6% of asphalts, the most spectacular of which will be those covered on Sunday evening at Karowa Street. For the first time in the history of one of the oldest rallies in the world, the final of the competition will take place in the heart of Warsaw. This is how the organizer decided to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first edition of Rally Poland.
Robert Gabryszewski (Rallytechnology team manager): Deleting Rally Poland was one of the most difficult moments of the whole last year's season. Fortunately, the event is back, and it is twice as big. Already this weekend, the beautiful stories of the Polish classic and the oldest rally cycle in the world will reunite. All this means that we will celebrate the jubilee with an impressive rate that the ERC has not seen for years.
Such a strong cast means one thing: that the fight for points will be really tough. The weekend will also be demanding for the equipment, especially with such high temperatures. However, we are properly prepared for all of this. Unlike Lithuania, we know the specificity of Masurian gravels and those winding, technical routes. The appetite for the result is also much greater, to take away not only memories from the jubilee, but also an important reserve of points.”
|