Cross-Country – Title fights hot up in Poland
Baja Poland - Round 7 of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas and the third round of the European Cup
Wysoka Grzęda Baja Poland (August 26-29), which is held in the Szczecin, Drawsko Pomorskie and Dobra municipalities, hosts the seventh round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas and the third round of this year’s European Cup. The 13th Baja Poland will be as challenging as ever, with long military range sections on Saturday mixed with shorter sprint stages closer to the city of Szczecin on Sunday’s concluding day of competition.
With only three events remaining on the calendar, competition is intensifying and Baja Poland has attracted many of the main title contenders across the categories. Yasir Seaidan and Alexey Kuzmich continue to head the FIA World Cup standings with nothing but podium finishes throughout the season. They will be gunning for another top result in the MINI John Cooper Works Rally as the Saudi Arabian/Russian crew eye a maiden world title. Yazeed Al Rajhi and Michael Orr are however chasing hard and have closed the deficit to their rivals to 23 points with podium placings on their last two outings. Having narrowly lost out on victory on the last round in Hungary, when the result was decided by a tie-breaker, the Toyota Hilux Overdrive crew will be keen to bag maximum points in Poland to capitalise on momentum.
Poles Krzysztof Hołowczyc and Łukasz Kurzeja make their third consecutive World Cup outing of the season and the duo are back in action in the MINI after taking the Hungarian tie-breaking win from Al Rajhi. No one has more victories than the local favourite, Hołowczyc with six wins on home soil to his name. They partner team-mates Michał and Julita Małuszyński, who finished second overall last year, in a third X-Raid run John Cooper Works Rally.
Miroslav Zapletal and Marek Sykora are currently fourth in the FIA World Cup standings after finishing just outside the top three in Hungary. Zapletal has been on the podium in Poland no fewer than three times in various different vehicles. Benediktas Vanagas and Filipe Palmeiro will be competing in another Hilux with the Russian crew of Denis Krotov and Konstantin Zhiltsov making a welcome return in a John Cooper Works Buggy.
Dania Akeel will be competing in Europe for only the second time, the Saudi Arabian amassing more experience in T3. She currently leads the category with two wins and a second position, and will be co-driven by Frenchman Stéphane Duple in an RM Sport Mamba. Spaniard Jesus Fuster is second in the T3 World Cup standings, but narrowly leads the European classification after claiming victory in Hungary. Competition in the category will be tough, however, with regular front-runners Santiago Navarro and Kees Koolen also on the provisional entry list.
T4 will be equally hard-fought with the top four contenders for the World title going head to head. Mshari Al-Thefiri currently tops the standings, the Kuwaiti with a 17-point advantage over Saleh Abdullah Al-Saif. Frenchman Claude Fournier is a further two points adrift with Alexandre Re in fourth, the Portuguese claiming victory on the previous two rounds. His two wins put him at the head of the FIA European Cup standings.
RALLY DATA
Total distance
784.83km
Selective section distance:
429.27 km
Number of selective sections:
7
LEADING ENTRIES
Yasir Seaidan/Alexey Kuzmich
MINI John Cooper Works Rally
Yazeed Al Rajhi/Michael Orr
Toyota Hilux Overdrive
Krzysztof Hołowczyc/Łukasz Kurzeja
MINI John Cooper Works Rally
Michal Małuszyński/Julita Małuszyński
MINI John Cooper Works Rally
Miroslav Zapletal/Marek Sykora
Ford F150 Evo
Benediktas Vanagas/Filipe Palmeiro
Toyota Hilux
Denis Krotov/Konstantin Zhiltsov
MINI John Cooper Works Buggy
Pedro Dias da Silva/Jose Sa Pires
Ford Ranger EXR Proto
Markus Walcher/Stephan Stensky
Nissan Navara VK56
Włodzimierz Grajek/Szymon Marciniak
BMW X5
BAJA POLAND - TIMETABLE & MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES
Thursday/Friday August 26/27
Scrutineering
Friday August 27
Shakedown
10:00-15:00 hrs
Pre-event press conference
15:00 hrs
Qualifying Stage (7.33 km)
17:00 hrs
Selection of start positions
20:00 hrs
Saturday August 28 – Leg 1/Section 2
Start of SS2 (184.05 km)
08:30 hrs
Remote service/regroup
11:20 hrs
Start of SS3 (184.05 km)
14:00 hrs
First car arrives final service
16:50 hrs
Sunday August 29 – Leg 2/Section 4
Start of SS4 (9.59 km)
08:50 hrs
Start of SS5 (17.33 km)
09:20 hrs
Service/regroup
10:15 hrs
Start of SS6 (9.659km)
12:10 hrs
Start of SS7 (17.33 km)
12:40 hrs
First car arrives regroup/Parc Fermé
13:35 hrs
Podium and Prize-giving Ceremony
14:30 hrs
Post event press conference, podium
14:30 hrs
FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas – Classifications:
https://www.fia.com/events/world-cup-cross-country-bajas/season-2021/classifications
FIA European Cup for Cross-Country Bajas – Classifications:
https://www.fia.com/events/fia-european-cup-cross-country-bajas/season-2021/classifications