Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the only driver in FIA
European Rally Championship history to win the ERC title three years in
succession, is going head-to-head with compatriot and fellow three-time
champion Sobiesław Zasada for a place in the grand
final on Thursday.
Having defeated Jan Kopeckýin the round of 16 voting, Kajetanowicz
knocked out Luca Rossetti in a quarter-final of triple ERC champions.
Zasada, who is
still competing aged 93, edged out Antonio Zanini in the first round of voting
before eliminating Patrick Snijers at the quarter-final stage.
Kajetanowiz or Zasada will face the winner of
the second semi-final, an all-Italian battle between Giandomenico Basso and
Fabrizio Tabaton.
Semi-final 1 contenders in short: Kajetanowicz
versus Zasada
Three-in-a-row from the
Polish prince who became King Kajto
While three drivers have won
the ERC title three times, only Kajetan Kajetanowicz has achieved the feat
consecutively, the Pole locking out the silverware between 2015-2017. ‘Kajto’
emerged as a contender when he scored the first win for an R5 car in the ERC
after battling the elements to triumph on Rally Poland in 2013. He celebrated
his maiden ERC crown in the Acropolis Rally service park as the event winner
after heavy rain prevented the 2015 edition from running its course. He took a
second Acropolis victory in 2017, one of seven notched up from 39 ERC starts.
He’s since gone on to star in WRC2 and became the inaugural FIA WRC2 Challenger
champion on Forum8 Rally Japan earlier this month.
ERC’s first
triple title winner demonstrated great versatility
So
significant was Sobiesław Zasada’s capture of his second ERC title in 1967 – one year after
his first – that it earned him the Polish Sports Personality of the Year
prize that year. Motorcycle competition actually provided his first motorsport
fix until he took up four-wheel competition in 1951, initially as a circuit
racer. Zasada, whose third ERC crown came in 1971, would go on to develop his vastly
successful Zasada Group business empire, which has interests in property,
manufacturing and motoring, amongst others. In 2021, Zasada became the oldest
driver to contest a round of the WRC when he entered Safari Rally Kenya aged
91.
As part of the FIA European Rally
Championship’s 70th-anniversary celebrations, 16 drivers were originally
selected for the ERC Greatest Driver vote with FIAERC.com taking a data-based approach to pick out 12 drivers who have
won the coveted European Rally Championship at least two times. Four
wildcards, based on their impact during a certain ERC era, were also selected.
The ERC Greatest Driver, according to
your votes, will be revealed on 1 December.
Finland
Italy
Hungary