SZCZECIN (POLAND) – Sunday, August 25: 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.