Munich. Round nine of the 2018 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup couldn’t have been a better result for MINI Motorsport and motorsport partner X-raid. Both MINI John Cooper Works Rally cars completed the three day Baja Poland ahead of the competition. The final result was a one-two finish for MINI; and a glorious triumph for the two Polish drivers racing on home soil amid thousands of rally fans.
Przygonski and co-driver Tom Colsoul (BEL) fired the first shot in what turned out to be a close battle over the weekend by winning the opening Super Special Stage (SSS) on the evening of Friday 31st August. Przygonski’s compatriot and five times winner of Baja Poland, Krzysztof Holowczyc, finished the SSS in fourth. With the top ten finishers of this stage being able to select their starting position for the next stage, Holowczyc elected to go first followed by Przygonski.
The Saturday (1st September) morning stage saw Holowczyc and co-driver Lukasz Kurzeja (POL) keep ahead of the chasing pack, while Przygonski and Colsoul dropped time because of a puncture – a problem that also affected other competitors racing on the Drawsko Pomorskie military range. However, at the end of the second run in the same location, the leading roles had been reversed, due mainly to Holowczyc and Kurzeja’s MINI John Cooper Works Rally getting stuck in large water splash.
Today’s final stages of Baja Poland 2018 saw Przygonski and Colsoul take their MINI John Cooper Works Rally all the way to the finish line in first place, thanks to a determined and controlled drive. Przygonski’s race time was logged as 5hr 27min 4sec. Taking second place with only a 3min 34sec time difference was Holowczyc in the second MINI JCW Rally.
With today’s win, Przygonski’s first win of Baja Poland, the Polish rally star retains the lead of the 2018 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup. There are just two more rounds to play for, from which Przygonski needs just 19 points to secure the Rally World Cup title.
Jakub ‘Kuba’ Przygonski: “Tom and I are so happy. It was a really important race for me because we were racing in my home country of Poland and the goal was to be as fast as possible. Our MINI John Cooper Works Rally was really good; perfect from the start so I was able to push from the beginning. We had one flat tyre but the rest of the race was perfect. Tom made a good race – he was ready for this race before we started. The result means more points for the championship… so I’m really happy.”
Baja Poland 2018: MINI race end results
| Driver | Co-driver | Auto | # | Team | Position |
| Jakub Przygonski (POL). |
Tom Colsoul (BEL) |
MINI John Cooper Works Rally | 101 | Orlen Team | 1st
|
| Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL) |
Lukasz Kurzeja (POL) |
MINI John Cooper Works Rally | 104 | X-raid Team | 2nd
|
