Rally Silesia 2023: Wróblewski wins, Grzyb clinches the Polish Rally Championship title
Kacper Wróblewski and Jakub Wróbel (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) won Rally Silesia 2023 – penultimate, sixth round of the Polish Rally Championship. This event counted also towards the FIA European Rally Trophy classification and the FIA Central European Zone championship. Thanks to fourth place in the rally, Grzegorz Grzyb and Adam Binięda (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) clinched the 2023 Polish Rally Championship title.
Rally Silesia, organised by the Foundation of Automobilists, was also included in the Historic Polish Rally Championship and Southern Rally Championship calendars. A field of 94 crews departed from the rally base at Silesian Stadium in Chorzów: 47 entered in the FIA ERC classification, 13 in historic series and 34 in local Southern Rally Championship.
The route of this year’s Rally Silesia was 635.12 kilometres long. Combined length of 12 special stages run on tarmac exceeded 150 kilometres.
Wróblewski and Wróbel set the pace on seven of 12 special stages. They took the lead for the first time after Saturday’s Jastrzębie-Zdrój test (18.20 kms). However, they experienced brake problems towards the end of the day, dropping to third position ahead of the final leg. Szeja brothers, Jarosław and Marcin, topped the standings on Saturday in their Hyundai i20 R5, with narrow gap of 0.9 seconds over Łukasz Byśkiniewicz and Daniel Siatkowski (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) – second-placed crew in the Polish championship. Wróblewski and Wróbel trailed Szeja brothers by 8.3 seconds.
Wróblewski and Wróbel set fastest times on all four stages on Sunday and won Rally Silesia. It was third career triumph for driver from Żywiec, following his victories in another Polish Rally Championship round, Rally Świdnicki in 2021 and 2022.
Byśkiniewicz and Siatkowski finished the rally in second position (+5.1 seconds), with Szeja brothers further down the order, in third (+7.5 seconds).
Fourth position for Grzyb and Binięda (+35.8 seconds) means that the driver from Rzeszów sealed his third Polish Rally Championship title. In 2016 he won the championship with Robert Hundla alongside and in 2018 three different co-drivers navigated him to another success: Bogusław Browiński, Robert Hundla and Jakub Wróbel. Grzyb has also seven championship titles in Slovakia under his belt. For his current co-driver, Adam Binięda, this is the first Polish Rally Championship title.
Top five in Silesia Rally 2023 was completed by Sylwester Płachytka and Rafał Fiołek (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo, +45.0 seconds).
Wróblewski and Wróbel scored five bonus points for the best time on the Power Stage, followed by Szeja/Szeja (4 points), Grzyb/Binięda (3 points), Byśkiniewicz/Siatkowski (2 points) and Płachytka/ Fiołek (1 point).
Jakub Matulka and Daniel Dymurski (Ford Fiesta Rally3) topped the Class 3 standings for Rally3 cars. Fourth-placed Piotr Parys and Damian Syty in another Ford Fiesta Rally3 hold the lead in the championship standings, despite losing over 10 minutes to the winners. The title will be decided during the final round of the season: 68th Rally Wisła (29 September-1 October).
Jacek Sobczak and Mateusz Pawłowski dominated the 2WD category in their Porsche 911 GT3, winning all eleven special stages.
Grzyb i Binięda lead the championship standings after Rally Silesia, with 178 points to their name. Byśkiniewicz and Siatkowski hold second position (135 points), ahead of Płachytka/Fiołek (118 points) and Kołtun/Pleskot (95 points).
The final round of the Polish Rally Championship, 68th Rally Wisła, takes place on 29 September-1 October.
Rally Silesia 2023 – final classification:
1. Wróblewski/Wróbel (Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) 1:28:30.8
2. Byśkiniewicz/Siatkowski (Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) +5.1
3. Szeja/Szeja (Hyundai i20 R5) +7.5
4. Grzyb/Binięda (Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) +35.8
5. Płachytka/Fiołek (Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) +45.0
6. Kołtun/Pleskot (Ford Fiesta R5 MkII) +1:06.0
7. Terlecki/Marczewski (Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) +2:32.1
8. Sobczak/Pawłowski (Porsche 911 GT3) +3:52.6
9. Kwiatkowski/Kozdroń (Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) +4:00.7
10. Kowalczyk/Hryniuk (Peugeot 208 Rally4) +6:24.5
Polish Rally Championship – standings after Rally Silesia 2023 (round 6 of 7):
1. Grzyb/Binięda 178 points
2. Byśkiniewicz/Siatkowski 135 points
3. Płachytka/Fiołek 118 points
4. Kołtun/Pleskot 95 points
5. Szeja/Szeja 67 points
6. Wróblewski/Wróbel 64 points
7. Sesks/Francis 60 points
8. Terlecki/Marczewski 51 points
9. Poloński/Sitek 43 points
10. Kwiatkowski/Kozdroń 42 points
fot. Maciej Niechwiadowicz
Rally Silesia 2023 – information:
Honorary auspices of the competition are held by Jakub Chełstowski, Marshal of the Silesian Voivodship.
The main partner of the Silesia Rally is the Silesian Voivodeship.
The strategic partner of the Rally Silesia is the Upper Silesian and Zagłębie Metropolis, and Kazimierz Karolczak, Chairperson of the Management Board of the Upper Silesian and Zagłębie Metropolis, has assumed honorary auspices of the competition.
The partner of the event is the city of Katowice, and the honorary auspices of the competition were taken by Marcin Krupa, Mayor of the City of Katowice.
The partner of the event is the city of Bielsko-Biała.
The Rally Silesia is organised in a cooperation with the poviats of Cieszyn, Pszczyna, Bielsko and Bieruńsko-Lędziński, the city of Jastrzębie-Zdrój, as well as the communes of: Skoczów, Jasienica, Hażlach, Pawłowice, Strumień and Dębowiec.
The Rally Silesia is sponsored by Silesia Oil sp. z o.o. – manufacturer of AVIA brand oils, Febi Bilstein and FOB-Decor.
Motul is the title sponsor of the HRSMP. Motowizja is the media partner of the competition. RMF Maxx is the exclusive radio patron of the event.
All information about the Rally Silesia can be found at www.rajdslaska.pl, Facebook @rajdslaska, Instagram @rajd_slaska and Twitter @RajdSlaska.
