Michal Bebenek co-driven by his brother Grzegorz (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) leads 68th Rally Poland after Saturday stages. The Platinum Rally Team duo by mere 0,9 s are ahead of former European champion Krzysztof Holowczyc (Subaru Impreza). Third overall is two times European championship runner up, Michal Solowow. Ford Fiesta S2000 driver showed his skills at the second pass through Kruklanki stage. Thanks to stage win he climbed in classification from sixth to third place. The time gap between the leader and fifth overall Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Subaru Impreza) is just 9,5 sec.

Saturday’s leg of 68th Rally Poland consisted of five special stages. After winning Jagodne test, Holowczyc took the rally lead. Bebenek, the winner of Rally Poland 2008 has followed Holowczyc all the time and took the lead not earlier than after Mikolajki superspecial.

All five stages were won by a different driver. At Lawki stage the victory was taken by a current Polish champion, Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Subaru Impreza). After Holowczyc win, the following stages were triumphed by Zbigniew Staniszewski (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), Grzegorz Grzyb (Peugeot 207 S2000) and Michal Solowow. Second pass through Mikolajki superspecial was victorious for Maciej Oleksowicz (Peugeot 207 S2000). Polish driver is on a good way to regain third place in European Rally Championship (ERC) classification. The ERC win was taken by Michal Solowow. Fifth position is occupied by two times European champion, Luca Rossetti (Abarth Grande Punto).

Comments:

Michal Bebenek – I do not know the tactics for tomorrow. I’ll go to bed and think it over. We’ll have to go flat out. It was a good day with no problems.

Krzysztof Holowczyc – During the second loop we made a mistake in a tyre choice. We cut them too much. Tomorrow is a fine day. The pace is good.

Michał Solowow – It was difficult in the morning. The stages were slippery. We were second on the road, which was not easy. In the afternoon it was much better – the road was the same for everybody. We did not make any mistakes throughout the day. We are third overall. Krzysiek drives perfectly. The pace of top ten drivers is excellent.

Maciek Oleksowicz – We did our utmost to beat Michal, we won the last stage, but it was not enough. I’m happy the fight is fierce and the level of competition high. The car and the team are fantastic.

Kajetan Kajetanowicz – I didn’t see the line of top drivers. The road position for tomorrow is fine. I aim to win this rally. Tomorrow stages are difficult, but I hope I’ll be lucky.

Michal Kosciuszko – It was fine. We missed the first stage, but the second loop was fine. At the moment we are sixth overall. It’s a good position before tomorrow stages. Top three drivers cleaned the road. Tomorrow stages are more slippery. We hope to improve our position.

Grzegorz Grzyb – We improved our car a lot. I understand what is going on in the car much better. We started the second loop fine. Unfortunately, later on we broke a gear shift lever. We had a good fun today.

Luca Rossetti – I wasn’t lucky. It’s not a best day in the season. During the first loop I hit the stone and caught the puncture. Afterwards we had a brake tube failure. We lost all brake fluid, which is not fine.