This year’s FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies is heading to its final stage of the battle for the title together with the 8th round of the series, which is LOTTO Baja Poland. After Nasser Al-Attiyah’s third win in a row in the Hungarian Baja, the driver from Qatar is now leading the overall standings. With three rounds to go, the series is now heading for LOTTO Baja Poland, which is scheduled for the last weekend of August and the routes will be located traditionally in the area of a military site in Drawsko Pomorskie and the neighborhood of the community of Dobra.

The inaugural round of the season, Rally Baja Russia Northern Forrest was held at the beginning of February, but loose, wet snow and the non-favorable conditions were not attractive to Polish crews – on the start of this event there were only present two of the representatives of the Orlen Team – Marek Dąbrowski and Jacek Czachor, who finished on a solid 9th place in the overall standings behind the wheel of their Toyota Hilux. Another big absentee was Nasser Al-Attiyah, while the winner of Baja Russia turned out to be the Finnish driver, Tapio Suominen, who was a co-driver of Martin Kaczmarski last year in their Mini All4Racing LOTTO Team. The favorites of the Cup – Vladimir Wasiliev and Reinaldo Varela completed the next two steps of the podium.

The beginning of April stood under the sign of moving to completely different climate – Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge rally welcomed competitors with very typical for United Arab Emirates conditions. The second round this year brought attention of more Polish crews, who turned out to be really strong in those demanding conditions – the “Szkoła Mistrzów LOTTO” duo – Jarek Kazberuk and Robin Szustkowski finished on the 6th place in the T2 class, making a debut behind the wheel of their new Ford Raptor. Two other car crews from the Orlen Team were also very strong – Marek Dąbrowski and Jacek Czachor were classified on the 5th position, while Adam Małysz and Rafał Marton crossed the finish line with the 7th time. The outing for Rafał Sonik was quite unlucky, but thanks to a good and wise drive, the Pole was able to finish on the 2nd place in the classification of quads.

The rivalry in the Qatar Rally begun on 20th of April – it was the third round of the FIA World Cup and the second round of the FIM World Cup. On the starting list there were ten Polish names, and Robin Szustkowski was replaced by his father – Robert, who finished the Dakar Rally twice (2010 and 2012) with Jarek Kazberuk. There were also slight changes in the squad of the Orlen Team, which was joined by the motorcyclist Kuba Piątek. The rally finished without a surprise as Nasser Al-Attiyah and Marc Coma comfortably won the event. The LOTTO Team drivers, Kazberuk and Szustkowski, were also in a good shape, as they managed to handle the tough conditions and brought the car home in one piece. Rafał Sonik won the second round of the World Cup and marked his high ambitions.

The beginning of May brought yet one another hot challenge – Pharaons Rally in Egipt. It was a debut in this event for Adam Małysz and in addition, the “eagle from Wisła” changed his co-driver – since then, on his right seat we have been able to admire known and experienced Xavier Panseri. The Egyptian event were lucky for Polish teams once again – Kuba Piątek, a debutant in this country, won in the 3rd round of the FIM World Cup.

After the overseas rallies it was high time to get back to Europe, which was opened with three days of struggle on the Italian off-road tracks – Italian Baja. Vladimir Wasiliew was the leader of the Cup before this round, and on the starting list there were also other top drivers: Reinaldo Varela, Miroslav Zapletal, as well as this year’s Dakar winner – Nasser Al-Attiyah. Polish crews were of course also there – Marek Dąbrowski and Jacek Czachor finished this round on a very good 4th place gathering solid points to the FIA overall standings. The winner of the 22nd Italian Baja was exceptional Nasser Al-Attiyah, who got closer to become the leader of the series.

During the Baja Aragon the then leader, Vladimir Wasiliew, was absent due to health reasons, which opened a way for being promoted to Nasser Al-Attiyah, who as soon as on the prologue of Baja Aragon didn’t give even the slightest chance to his rivals. The start in Spain was not the luckiest for the LOTTO Team, which was struggling with the technical problems and tough special stages, which eventually turned out to be to tricky even for the mighty Nasser Al-Attiyah and Ignacio Casale. However, Mikko Hirvonen, the debutant in the World Cup made a fantastic use of the conditions. The ex-WRC driver was slower only than his team-mate and during his first outcome he was able to reach the 2nd highest step of the podium.

The next rally was the Hungarian Baja - which was treated by many of Polish crews as a test before the LOTTO Baja Poland. The main rivals for Nasser Al-Attiyah became Marek Dąbrowski and Jacek Czachor, who were given the 2nd competition number as Wasiliew and Varela were still absent. There were much more crews in the T2 class, and our representatives were: Jarek Kazberuk and Robert Szustkowski, Łukasz Lechowicz and Łukasz Solecki, Klaudia Podkalicka and Błażej Czekan, Tomasz Piec and Gabriel Prochacki, Grzegorz Czarnecki with his co-driver Juraj Ulrich. Unfortunately, the Hungarian round was yet another tough lesson for two of the Polish crews: - Jarek Kazberuk and Robin Szustkowski had a failure the electricity in their car, which led to withdrawal from the competition. On the other hand, the Orlen Team’s Dąbrowski / Czachor were facing quite similiar problem, which eventually forced them to exit the fight. The winner of the 7th round of the World Cup was Nasser Al-Attiyah, who became a new leader of the series. Polish fans could celebrate the win of Damian Ratajczyk, who was the fastest in the quad category.

LOTTO Baja Poland - the 8th round of this year's impressive FIA World Cup for Cross Country is scheduled for weekend 27th - 30th August. The competition in Szczecin will be the round of the FIA World Cup for the 4th time in a row. The entry list will be published on the 24th of August, but we are expecting a lot of Polish crews on the start line. With their new Ford Raptor, the duo from the LOTTO Team has announced their start. Marek Dąbrowski and Jacek Czachor, are now in the top of the standings and Adam Małysz and Xavier Panseri also shouldn't be missed. Krzysztof Hołowczyc, a multiple winner of the LOTTO Baja Poland is also expected on the start with his co-pilot Łukasz Kurzeja.

Overall standings after Hungarian Baja

1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) Mini 180 pkt
2. WładimirWasiliew (RUS) Toyota 171 pkt
3. Reinaldo Varela (BRA) Toyota 97 pkt
4. Marek Dąbrowski (POL)Toyota 82 pkt
 

13. Adam Małysz (POL) Mini 28 pkt

W klasie T2, 7. miejsce zajmują Jarosław Kazberuk i Robin Szustkowski (36 pkt)