No repeat win but faster ERC pace leaves Marczyk happy at home

Marczyk started ORLEN 79th Rally Poland on Friday in contention for a repeat victory on the high-speed gravel counter.

After a trip into a ditch and a pop-off valve issue cost him vital time on Saturday morning, Marczyk settled for third place in the final results alongside co-driver Szymon Gospodarczyk.

“I am very happy because the overall pace of the rally is higher than last year when I won the rally and I appreciate it,” said the 27-year-old, who was competing in a Michelin-equipped Škoda Fabia RS Rally2. “If someone told me before the race that I will be between Hayden Paddon and Mads Østberg I will say for sure it’s perfect. But the best guy on the rally was, Mārtiṇš Sesks, so big congratulations to him.”

Marczyk clocked a succession of top-three stage times on the Mikołajki event and also gained more experience behind the wheel of his new-for-2023 Fabia. “It’s better all the time, step by step,” he said.

Of his delay on the second stage of the rally, Marczyk explained what went wrong.

“It was a left corner, quite a slow one over the crest, a little bit tightening and I was trying to put the position [of the car] a bit sideways but when I entered the corner I got a bit of understeer and lost the front. There was a ditch and a possibility I can damage the radiator so this is why I stopped the car. I start the engine and after I reverse and come back and that was 15 seconds [lost]. It was my fault but I knew from the start the competition level would be high and I was trying from the first stage to be in the game. I made a fault and I am sorry.”