Difficult conditions and fierce competition at RMC Poland

Although the temperatures have been warming up throughout parts of Europe, the weekend turned out to be bitterly cold with rain and gusty wind adding to the demanding conditions on Saturday. Just short of 80 competitors braved the icy weather in Poland as the race fans were invited to join the organisers for a morning coffee too.

On the starting line were the drivers competing in six categories and children practicing their skills to become future champions within the entry-level “show” sessions. This year, the Rotax Senior MAX category also moved to the lottery system draw to allocate the Rotax 125 MAX Evo engines to competitors, as it continues to do in the Micro, Mini and Junior MAX classes as well. The concept aims to help level the playing field of the competition and provide more equal chances for all drivers. In total, the organizer prepared 80 Rotax engines for the race weekend at Slomczyn.

Micro MAX In the youngest category, #66 Blazej Kostrzewa (TGR), making his debut in RMCP this year, had a very successful weekend. Scoring 97 points, he won three of the races across the weekend to top the table at Slomczyn. Finishing in 2nd place, #84 Michael Zajac (Bambini Racing) took pole position in qualifying (1:15.855) and is the current championship leader after two rounds now. #17 Aleksander Raczkowski (JR Racing) was 3rd.

Mini MAX The #133 kart of Adrian Rog (MotoSport Racing is Life) posted best lap (1:24.325) around the fast Polish circuit, but it was kart #159 of RMCGF 2022 competitor Aleksander Rogowski (KRK Racing) who dominated the class to win three races from four and topped the points overall. He is also leading the series from runner-up at round 2 #153 Martin Soltys. Race 3 winner #118 Filip Kijanowski (KRK Racing) finished 3rd on the day.

Junior MAX Clearly the quickest driver on the track in the Juniors to begin with was #285 Franciszek Sulima (1:12.647) who also won the opening two races of the weekend. However, it was the RMC Grand Finals 2022 participant #297 Kacper Turoboyski (Bambini Racing) who claimed a double victory in the following two races to take the second round win over his teammate Sulima. The 2022 champion heads the class rankings going into round 3. #269 Michal Soltys (KRK Racing) stepped up on the podium for 3rd. 

Senior MAX This was the most fiercely contested racing in Slomczyn where the first and fourth drivers were separated by only eight points. Setting the initial pace (1:12.609) by a narrow margin over his closest rivals, #345 Piotr Borowczyk (Ernst Racing) won the weekend with a gap of just seven points in the final tally. Winning the last two races Sunday, Rotax E20 E-Kart RMCET round 1 winner #319 Tomasz Ibsen (KRZ Motorsport) ended up on equal points with fellow teammate in the #351 kart Filip Niewiadomski, but secured P2 on the podium having set a better laptime in qualifying. Only one point behind them, 2022 E-Kart Euro Trophy competitor #397 Kacper Turoboyski (Bambini Racing) leads the championship for now

DD2 It was #465 David Aulejtner (Wyrzykowski-Motorsport) who was fastest in qualifying (1:11.773). The third-placed driver of the RMC Grand Finals 2021 in Bahrain in the E20 Senior category won a set of points for the races and all the bonuses (2 extra points for each race) for best lap in the racing. Now the RMC Euro Trophy 2023 round 1 runner-up sits 1st overall to lead the series after being unbeaten in all four races at the Polish event. With consistent P2 results in the racing, #482 Patryk Donica finished 2nd to rank P3 after two rounds. The duel for 3rd between the winner’s teammates was won by #424 Dawid Zydlewski, who has a one point advantage to Donica in the standings, while #410 Jan Frost was 4th.

DD2 Masters #577 Daniel Zajac (D&D Motorsport Poland) secured pole position in official timed practice (1:15.746) and leads the standings after a clean sweep of the program at Slomczyn. Wyrzykowski-Motorsport teammates, #588 Marek Kuklinski and #596 Slawomir Wesolowski, came home in 2nd and 3rd places respectively. 

The next round of competition will be held at the Kartodrom Bydgoszcz on June 1-3. This year, drivers will compete for tickets to the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals in six race weekends. So if you want to see what the competition was like, check out the video from Round 2 of the Rotax MAX Challenge Poland 2023

RESULTS

2023 RMC Poland Race Calendar
Bonus Cup – Poznan     Mar 17-19
Round 1 – Poznan     Mar 24-26
Round 2 – Slomczyn     May 5-7
Round 3 – Slomczyn     Jul 21-23
Round 4 – Poznan     Aug 25-27
Round 5 – Bydgoszcz    Sep 14-16
Round 6 – Stary Kisielin    Oct 20-22

Text & Photos Lukasz Iwaniak-Media4U