Krzysztof Hołowczyc and Łukasz Kurzeja sealed a comfortable victory in the 2026 Akpol Baja Poland in their petrol-engined X-Raid Mini JCW Rally. In so doing, Hołowczyc secured his 11th victory on the Szczecin-based event since 2010 and his navigator earned his seventh win.

The Polish pair are not registered for the 2026 FIA European Baja Cup, however, and that opened the door for the fourth-placed Lithuanian pairing of Benediktas Vanagas and Aisvydas Paliukenas to lead the way on the fourth round of the regional Baja series in their Gurtam Toyota Gazoo Racing Baltics Hilux.

Hołowczyc said: “We finished and have won the rally. We had some problems. We changed a wheel and we lost some time but the X-Raid team will be happy. This victory was for Tobias Quandt (X-Raid), the guy who thinks about all the spare parts, all the organisation and all the logistics. This victory is for you.”

Fourth-placed Vanagas added: “The stages were really interesting and very good. I lost the clutch and I know that when this happens the pipelines are very close to the exhaust. We finished the last 10km without the clutch and I thought we could get a fire. When the car stopped, it started (fire) but we were lucky and quick and knew what to do and where to do it. Fourth overall, third in class and we won the European Cup.”

Michal Małuszyński and Julita Małuszyńska claimed the overall runners-up spot in a Toyota Hilux and Adam Kuś and Maciej Giemza topped the times in the Challenger category on every stage and finished third in a Taurus Evo Max.

The three-day event through Poland’s West Pomeranian Voivodeship took advantage of challenging terrain at the nearby Drawsko Pomorskie military proving grounds. While Vanagas and Paliukenas strengthened their grip on the Ultimate category, Portuguese rivals Paulo Rodrigues and Fausto Mota continue to lead the overall Drivers’ and Navigators’ Championships after finishing 12th overall and first of the registered SSV crews in their Rio Seco Racing Can-Am.

A third successive SSV category win enabled Rodrigues to increase his advantage over Murat Kapanoğlu and Ernest Kuś. Both his rivals finished near the foot of the rankings after delays early in the event.

Rodrigues said: “We did a good job for the European championship. That was our objective and we achieved it. It was a good rally here in Poland and we had luck on our side. We had a clean run with no problems.”

It was a strong Baja for Maríusz Wiatr and Łukasz Łaskawiec in their Ford F-150 Evo. They finished fifth overall and picked up points for being the second of the registered FIA European Baja Cup crews.

Marek Kubiczek and Dominik Ragiel were classified in ninth in a Taurus Evo Max and were the highest-placed of the registered Challenger crews. That enabled them to close the gap on the absent Dinís Rogeira and Nelson Ramos in the championship standings.     

UAE-based Aliyyah Koloc and Pole Marcin Pasek were the third-registered Ultimate crew to reach the finish in 11th overall in a Buggyra ZM Racing Red-Lined Revo GTR. The points enabled Koloc to jump into contention for a top five finish to the season.

Koloc said: “Happy to make it to the finish. It’s been a tough year so far so it was great to get this result in Poland.”

Czech driver Karel Trněný and his navigator Václav Pritzl lost ground on Vanagas and Paliukenas in the battle for the Ultimate title. Navigational mistakes and transmission woes pushed the X-Force ACCR Ford F-150 Evo+ down to 14th overall.

Portugal’s Maria Gameiro and her German navigator Annett Quandt crewed the second of the X-Raid Minis and finished 17th. They were fifth of the registered crews in the Ultimate category and maintained their challenge for a podium finish in the Ultimate section this year.

Hungary’s Lőrinc Mészáros and Albert Horn (G Rally Team G-ECKO) were also registered for the Baja series and finished 18th overall. The Austrian duo of Mark Mustermann of Michael Zajc (Ford Raptor) hit trouble on the final stage and retired.

WRC factory driver Mārtiņš Sesks made his rally-raid debut in a T3 Bairons Viking Challenger built by Latvia-based Sports Racing Technologies (SRT). The Latvian and navigator Didzis Zarins overcame losing a wheel and sustaining car damage on stage two to finish 21st.

Czech Frantisek Brutovsky was disqualified before the start for not sporting a valid label on his Ford F150’s fuel tank. A technical issue on his Can-Am also forced Sweden’s Mattias Ekström to withdraw before the first stage after he had tackled the Prologue.

The 8.85km Prologue in Szczecin on Friday afternoon determined the starting order for a gruelling opening leg of competition across the Drawsko Pomorskie military proving grounds on Saturday. Adam Kuś guided his Taurus to the fastest time, the Pole beating multiple champion Hołowczyc by 2.3 seconds to claim the early bragging rights and the favourable choice of starting position.

Saturday’s revised opening leg featured three runs through a stage of 57.64km and two passes through a second of 70.76km. Kuś started fourth on the road behind three Ultimate category machines and clocked the fastest time of 1hr 22min 34sec to edge into a 12-second lead over Barthłomiej Kotwica.

Vanagas was the highest-ranked of the FIA European Baja Cup contenders in sixth with Wiatr claiming seventh. Matthias Walkner failed to finish the stage and Ernest Kuś lost over an hour. Fourteen of the 24 crews to finish the stage also incurred four-minute time penalties for missing waypoints.

Hołowczyc lost vital minutes with a flat tyre on the opening stage but the multiple event winner bounced back strongly with the quickest time on the second pass. He managed to take a 4min 34sec lead into the final test of the day. Małuszyński moved into second overall, with Kuś slipping to third and Vanagas continuing to lead the way in the FIA European Baja Cup. Wiatr was the Lithuanian’s closest registered rival from Kubiczek and Rodrigues.

Murat Kapanoğlu’s SSV title challenge suffered a setback when he was unable to start the second stage and Sesks lost a wheel and his Viking Challenger suffered damage that prevented him finishing the day.

Trněný’s hopes of adding to his points’ tally suffered a setback with a navigational error on both stages and then a gearbox issue and a broken driveshaft. He continued with just first, second and third gears. Magdalena Zając suffered an accident in her Toyota and was sidelined.

Sunday’s action featured two passes through short stages of 15.14km and 10.94km between Sławozsewo, Wołczkowo and Szczecin Zawadzkiego before the finish in Szczecin.

Hołowczyc got the better of Adam Kuś by just 1.5 seconds on the opener to extend his lead over Małuszyński to 5min 51.7sec. Wiatr was the quickest of the registered drivers in third but he remained behind Vanagas in fifth overall. Kubiczek and Rodrigues continued to lead the registered Challenger and SSV categories in 10th and 13th overall.

Hołowczyc sealed outright victory with the fastest time on the second pass and Vanagas confirmed fourth place and victory in the FIA European Baja Cup, despite late clutch issues.

The FIA European Baja Cup continues with the rescheduled Baja Spain Aragón on September 11th-13th.

2026 Akpol Baja Poland – final result:

1. Krzysztof Hołowczyc (POL)/Łukasz Kurzeja (POL) X-raid Mini JCW Rally 3.0i                       3hr 57min 24.2sec

2. Michal Małuszyński (POL)/Julita Małuszyńska (POL) Toyota Hilux                                         4hr 04min 00.3sec

3. Adam Kuś (POL)/Maciej Giemza (POL) Taurus Evo Max                                                           4hr 04min 51.9sec

4. Benediktas Vanagas (LTU)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU) Toyota Hilux                                      4hr 05min 15.8sec*

5. Maríusz Wiatr (POL)/Łukasz Łaskawiec (POL) Ford F-150 Evo+                                              4hr 06min 01.1sec*

6. Bartłomiej Kotwica (POL)/Arkadiusz Jęrdzejewski (POL) Taurus T3 Max                              4hr 11min 08.9sec  

7. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SVK) Ford F-150 Evo+                                                4hr 12min 32.9sec  

8. Włodzimierz Grajek (POL)/Szymon Marciniak (POL) Toyota Hilux                                         4hr 14min 50.9sec

9. Marek Kubiczek (POL)/Dominik Ragiel (POL) Taurus Evo Max                                                4hr 20min 32.1sec*

10. Robert Kufel (POL)/Maciej Chelmicki (POL) Ford Ranger                                                       4hr 29min 31.8sec  

11. Aliyyah Koloc (UAE)/Marcin Pasek (POL) Red-Lined Revo GTR                                             4hr 32min 21.6sec*

12. Paulo Rodrigues (POR)/Fausto Mota (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                                         4hr 34min 42.8sec*

13. Tomasz Baranowski (POL)/Konrad Dudziński (POL) Toyota Hilux GR                                  4hr 40min 20.4sec  

14. Karel Trněný (CZE)/Václav Pritzl (CZE) Ford F-150 Evo+                                                         4hr 40min 25.6sec*

15. Marcin Nasiłowski (POL)/Michał Goloniewski (POL) Taurus T3 Max                                   4hr 47min 42.9sec

16. Vic Flip (AUT)/Stefan Henken (GER) Toyota Hilux                                                                   4hr 47min 54.0sec

17. Maria Gameiro (POR)/Annett Quandt (GER) X-Raid Mini JCW 3.0d                                    4hr 54min 45.7sec*

18. Lőrinc Mészáros (HUN)/Albert Horn (HUN) G Rally Team G-ECKO                                      4hr 57min 56.5sec*

19. Grzegorz Brochocki (POL)/Grzegorz Komar (POL) Taurus Evo Max                                     4hr 59min 38.5sec  

20. Ernest Kuś (POL)/Grzegorz Szymański (POL) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                 6hr 26min 13.7sec*

21. Mārtiņš Sesks (LVA)/Didzis Zarins (LVA) Bairons SRT Viking                                                  10hr 38min 09.0sec

22. Murat Kapanoğlu (BUL)/Aleksandr Trendafilov (BUL) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 12hr 45min 13.4sec*

Matthias Walkner (AUT)/Oliver Pyerin (AUT) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                      DNF

Mark Mustermann (AUT)/Michael Zajc (AUT) Ford Raptor                                                         DNF*

Magdalena Zając (POL)/ Błażej Czekan (POL) Toyota Hilux                                                          DNF*

Jacek Soboń (POL)/Bartosz Weyna (POL) Ford Ranger                                                                 DNS                           

Mattias Ekström (SWE)/Emil Bergkvist (SWE) Can-Am Maverick X3                                          DNS

Frantisek Brutovsky (CZE)/Norbert Liszi (HUN) Ford F150 Evo+                                                 DSQ

*denotes registered for FIA European Baja Cup