On the first day of the 37th Canary Islands Rally, Robert Kubica, partnered by his co-driver Maciej Baran, delivered performances which not only outclassed his rivals, but also secured him the Colin McRae ERC Flat Out Trophy. Unfortunately, during the tenth special stage on Saturday, the Polish team collided with a roadside barrier, which made them unable to complete the rally.

The Kubica-Baran tandem, supported by Grupa LOTOS, won all the eight special stages slated for the the first day, which gave them a healthy advantage of more than one minute over their most dangerous rival - Jan Kopecky from the Czech Republic - in the general classification. This excellent performance - even despite the Saturday crash - was judged worthy of the Colin McRae ERC Flat Out Trophy, given to drivers who show they can drive fast and compete in the spirit of famous Colin McRae.

“It’s a great pleasure for me to win this award. Of course Colin was a great driver and I used to support him when I was young. Normally winners are only at the finish, but this trophy gives us a bit of satisfaction after this hard end and Colin is always in our hearts,” said Robert Kubica collecting the trophy from the organisers.

Unfortunately, Saturday was not so lucky. On a curve of the second special stage held that day, the back wheels of the Citroen driven by Kubica lost grip while braking. The Polish driver tried to manoeuvre the car out of the slippage, but its left side got caught on a barrier. The damage was too bad for the Poles to continue the rally, although neither the driver nor his co-driver were injured.

“We were driving in our own time, without attacking. However, at a rally even the tiniest mistake may be a costly one. The small problem with getting the car under control became a big problem, because the road was extremely narrow in that place,” said Robert Kubica in an interview for the official website of the European Rally Championship. “We weren't driving too fast, I just miscalculated the road steepness. This is not an excuse, but we had had problems with back wheels grip at high speeds before. I should have taken that into account”.

“Such situations will happen at rallies. Minor mistakes may cost a lot,” he added. “It was a hard lesson, but I hope it teaches me something for the future. Overall, it was a good weekend for us, we were doing fine at the test runs. We have to learn the lessons though, also the bad ones. This is what rallies are like. Starting from tomorrow, we are going to focus on Portugal and push forward”.

The winner of this year's Canary Islands Rally, the third ERC round, was Jan Kopecky. Another ERC round will be the Azores Rally, scheduled between April 25th and April 27th 2013. Before that, Robert Kubica and Michał Kościuszko, a LOTOS Rally Team driver, will take part in Rally Portugal (from April 11th to April 14th), a qualifying round of the World Rally Championship.

Also, the WRC Fafe Rally Sprint is slated to take place a week earlier (on April 6th). This one-day event, during which drivers will have a first go at gravel tracks this season, will feature top WRC names, including Sebastien Ogier (the frontrunner to win the World Championship), Mikko Hirvonen, Dani Sordo and Mads Ostberg. Poland will be represented by the Kubica-Baran team, running with number 10.

Communication Office, Grupa LOTOS S.A., ul. Elbląska 135, 80-718 Gdańsk, Poland, tel. (+48) 58 308 87 31, (+48) 58 308 83 88, e-mail: media@grupalotos.pl