Home advantage wins for MINI All4 Racing driver Krzysztof Hołowczyc and Nasser Al-Attiyah finishes second// 2015 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup leader Al-Attiyah extends his lead

Press Release

30 August 2015

Home advantage wins for MINI All4 Racing driver Krzysztof Hołowczyc and Nasser Al-Attiyah finishes second// 2015 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup leader Al-Attiyah extends his lead

Munich (DE). Round eight of the 2015 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup, Baja Poland (28-30th August), saw MINI All4 Racing take the top two spots in the competitive heat with local driver Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL) using his home advantage to secure his fifth victory at this event, ahead of world cup leader Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) in second.

Home hero Holowczyc was aided in his convincing win by co-driver Lukasz Kurzeja (POL), but the success was tinged with sadness as the highly experienced driver chose the celebration ceremony as the platform to announce his retirement from Cross Country Rallies.

Krzysztof Hołowczyc (MINI All4Racing): 
“I‘m really happy and I wish to finish every day of a rally in a fashion like this. The most important is the fact that, after being six months out of the car, I instantly felt at home in it. 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. We've drove really cleanly and I would like to thank my co-driver, Łukasz, who has kept pushing me. 

Announcing his retirement, Holowczyc continued “I decided to stop my intense career in Cross Country rallies after over 10 years of off-road rallying. During this period I gained a lot of good, and sometimes excellent, results and I scored a few fails as well. I gained a Dakar podium, FIA World Cup and won many rallies. It was 10 fantastic but also very hard years, especially when I suffered some heavy injuries. But it was worth it.

“From the very beginning my challenge was to be on Dakar podium and the dream came true this year, so probably it is the best moment to say goodbye when you are in glory. I don’t retire entirely from rallying but I plan to start really occasionally, I owe it to my wife and family who have strongly supported me during over 30 years of my motorsport career. In this special moment I would like to thank very much X-raid and its boss Sven Quandt who always believed in my skills and talent. My Dakar podium would not be possible without their huge support. I will always remember that in most difficult moment of my career they gave me a helpful hand.”  

The Polish pairing, competing in the Lotto Team MINI All4 Racing, took the win from the World Cup leading crew of Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel (FRA). Despite having taken the early lead in the opening special stage, Nasser and Baumel’s unfamiliarity with the course meant that they were unable to keep pace with Holowczyc.

After Saturday’s two stages Nasser confirmed that his focus had shifted to securing a solid second place to gain the points necessary to extend his championship lead – a task that he achieved. Given the demanding nature of the military training ground, its deep ruts and unfamiliar territory, the Qatari driver was happy with the result.
 
Nasser Al-Attiyah (MINI All4Racing):  
“I'm pleased with a quite good second place. We did a good job and I'm quite happy, but Hołowczyc set an incredible time. Given the circumstances, I decided to focus on the points to the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies which I would like to win this year rather than victory in this event.”

Another satisfied MINI All4 Racing competitor was Jakub Przygonski (POL) who was getting to grips with a new car as a guest driver at his home event. Co-driver Andreas Schulz (DE) helped Przygonski navigate his way to a seventh-place finish. The driver, who is better known for his motorcycle rally achievements, said: “I feel more and more comfortable in the car and I'm losing less and less to the front-runners, so there is a progression. I'm really happy and I would like to thank my co-driver. I really enjoyed driving here and we managed to keep a good pace all the time. The car was brilliant and we had no navigation problems.”

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Adam Małysz (POL), co-driven by Xavier Panseri (FRA), in an Orlen MINI All4 Racing. The pairing got lost during one of the Saturday stages and also suffered from a puncture, but fought back in today’s final stages to secure a respectable 8th position.

Unfamiliar territory, cited by second-placed Nasser, also played a factor for some of the other MINI All4 Racing drivers with Erik Van Loon (NLD), who finished 12th with co-driver Wouter Rosegaar (NLD), saying: “This is the first time I'm taking part in this rally so it's not easy to be fast right away.”

The final MINI All4 Racing pairing of Stephan Schott (DE) and Pedro Velosa (PRT) completed the event in 15th place.

Race calendar: 2015 FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies.

20/02 – 22/02 Baja Russia
27/03 – 2/04 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
18/04 – 24/04 Sealine Cross-Country Rally Qatar
10/05 – 17/05 Pharaons Rally
25/06 – 28/06 Italian Baja
24/07 – 26/07 Baja Aragón
13/08 – 16/08 Hungarian Baja

27/08 – 30/08 Baja Poland

03/10 – 09/10 Rallye du Maroc
22/10 – 24/10 Baja Portalegre 500

Find more photos and videos in high resolution in the MINI ALL4 Racing section on the BMW Media Website by clicking here.