The 7th round of the World Rally Championship – Rally Sardegna – begins next Friday. For Michał Kościuszko and Maciek Szczepaniak of the LOTOS Rally Team, this will be their first start with the M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC. The Italian rally will also be the third WRC rally in which Robert Kubica and Maciek Baran, another team sponsored by LOTOS Group, will be running in the WRC 2 category.

The special stages of the Rally Sardegna are diverse and demanding. They mostly consist of fast, narrow tracks on partly flat, partly irregular forest terrain, with many spectacular water splashes. The routes are difficult, sometimes leading through rock slides rutted by the passing of the first car.

This year, the rally was re-scheduled from October to the middle of the Sardinian summer. Compared to last year, the competition has been shortened from four to two days, during which the teams will drive 16 special stages over 304.70 kilometres. 56 crews will test their skill there, 14 of them competing in the WRC category.

The Monte Pinu qualifying stage (3.86 special stage kilometres) is scheduled for Thursday morning, and in the evening the rally will officially open in Sassari. Friday's opening leg will begin in Sassari on the Monte Lerno special stage, which features the spectacular Micky`s Jump. On Saturday, the drivers will have to complete two loops of four special stages on forest terrain. The finish ceremony is scheduled for 7pm and will this year take place in the town of Olbia at the Molo Brin Archeological Museum.

Grupa LOTOS is the strategic partner of the LOTOS Rally Team. Michał Kościuszko is also supported by the LOTOS Dynamic fuel brand and LOTOS motor oil brand.

For more information about LOTOS Rally Team crews – Michał Kościuszko and Maciek Szczepaniak, as well as Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran – please visit: http://www.lotosrallyteam.pl/ or find the 'Emocje do pełna' Facebook profile at http://www.facebook.com/EmocjeDoPelna, where you can also find out information about Robert Kubica and Maciek Baran.

Communication Office
Grupa LOTOS S.A.
ul. Elbląska 135,
80-718 Gdańsk,
tel. 58 308 87 31, 58 308 83 88, 58 308 83 55,
e-mail: media@grupalotos.pl