Krzysztof Hołowczyc and Łukasz Kurzeja (Mini 4All Racing) took a commanding lead during the first running of the 144-kilometer long special stage held at a military training ground in Drawsko Pomorskie. The stage opened Saturday's leg of this year's LOTTO Baja Poland. Four-time event winner was more than four minutes faster then Nasser Al- Attiyah in a similar car. An impressive third time was set by Martin Kaczmarski who makes his debut behind the wheel of a Toyota Hilux Overdrive.

During yesterday's draft Hołowczyc chose to be the first car on the road, expecting that his good knowledge of the military area will play into his hands. Former European Rally Champion made the right call and was in a class of its own, beating two-time Dakar Rally winner Nasser Al- Attiyah. Despite a severe time loose the Qatari was happy after the stage and stressed that his unfamiliarity was the main reason for loosing to Hołowczyc.

Martin Kaczmarski, who comes back to the sport after months of recovery from a back injury, turned out to be the revelation of the rally. After the stage Martin praised the organizers of LOTTO Baja Poland for preparing the rally at the highest level. Interestingly, Martin's co-driver, Tapio Suominen won the first round of this year's FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies, Baja Russia, as a driver. Two Dutch drivers ended up just behind Kaczmarski. Also driving a Toyota, Bernhard Ten Brinken (with his Belgian co-driver Tom Colsoul) finished fourth, ahead of his compatriot Erik Van Loon in another Mini.

Fourth driver of yesterday's super stage Marek Dąbrowski was off the pace this time and finished sixth, due to a power loose in his Toyota Hilux.

Vladimir Vasilyev, second in the FIA World Cup standings at the moment, finished behind Dąbrowski, complaining about recent lack of seat time in an off-road rally car. Ninth was, making his cross country car debut, Jakub Przygoński, who finished in front of two Toyotas of Paweł Molgo/Janusz Jandrowicz and former Baja Poland winner Alexander Zheludov/Anton Nikolaev.

Adam Małysz, co-driven by three time Polish rally champion Xavier Panseri, had his fair share of bad luck. Former ski jumping legend got lost and got a puncture what resulted in loosing 11 minutes.

Quotes after the second special stage of LOTTO Baja Poland:

Krzysztof Hołowczyc / Łukasz Kurzeja (MINI All4Racing):

– I've never had a suspension like this in my life. The car is amazing. They have improved so many aspects over the last six months I've been out of the car.

Bernhard Ten Brinke / Tom Colsoul (Toyota Hilux Overdrive):

– It was good after the start but, we pushed, but later we made a mistake and lost around 1.5 minute. In general it wasn't that bad.

Nasser Al-Attiyah / Matthieu Baumel (MINI All4Racing):

– It wasn't easy. We didn't know much about the stage. We did a good job and I'm quite happy, but Hołowczyc set an incredible time.

Martin Kaczmarski / Tapio Suominen (Toyota Hilux Overdrive):

– To be honest, I'm very pleasantly surprised with the stage, it was prepared superbly. Congratulations to the organizers. The car is brilliant, co-driver even better, and the driver... well, we will know after the final results of the rally. The stage was really nice, fast and I'm really pleased.

Erik Van Loon / Wouter Rosegaar (MINI All4Racing):

– I've never been here. It's a new stage for me but it's a beautiful stage, very intense, twisty, with a lot of jumps. Everything was here. I've made a small mistake and lost a little bit of time but overall I'm satisfied.

Jakub Przygoński / Andreas Schulz (MINI All4Racing):

– It was and incredible stage. I really enjoyed driving here and we managed kept a good pace all the time. The car was brilliant and we had no navigation problems.