Krzysztof Hołowczyc‘s BMW X3 has served as his trusty steed for over a decade, but he thinks it might be time to put it out to pasture. Concurrently, he is not ruling out taking some time away from his successful cross-country rally career to return to his roots in traditional rally, particularly in the WRC Masters.
His hopes of defending his Baja Poland victory were dashed by an engine failure during the first stage on Saturday. Speaking with media following his retirement, he explained that he overdrove his car beyond its limits. The 2009 BMW X3 is already so old that he remarked “in a few years will be a car that you can put yellow numbers on and start in the Dakar Classic.”
While the T1.1 is certainly still quick, having lifted him to the 2023 FIA European Baja Cup championship, he noted it is roughly 1.8 kilometres per second slower than top-of-the-line vehicles like those in the T1+ subcategory. He had won the 2023 Baja Poland in a Mini John Cooper Works Rally Plus, a T1+ car.
“I am driving 100 percent because I feel that I can compete even with a weaker car,” Hołowczyc explained. “Unfortunately, I drove it more than 100 percent and there were unfortunate effects.”
While his comments suggest he is open to switching to more powerful machinery, Hołowczyc is actually looking at potentially stepping away from cross-country rally entirely, at least for a brief sabbatical. During this stretch, the 62-year-old would love to pursue rallying in WRC Masters, which is reserved for drivers over fifty years of age.
“I’m still fast and that makes me very happy, because whenever I go anywhere, I’m racing for something big,” he continued. “I won’t talk about winning because if I go, for example, to WRC rallies, I won’t say that I’m racing by myself. They came up with such a beautiful class in WRC Masters. It is my secret dream to go back to my roots, maybe for a year or two to break away from cross country and try again in WRC, old masters, legendary drivers.”
WRC Masters is open to all rally cars besides Rally1. So far in 2024, race winners include 2022 champion Mauro Miele, Carl Tundo, Armin Kremer, Jean-Michel Raoux, and fellow Pole Michał Sołowow.
Hołowczyc revealed he had spoken with 2003 World Rally Champion Petter Solberg about racing in WRC Masters, noting Solberg “said that maybe he will try.” Solberg, who retired from full-time racing after 2018, has continued to run various rallies in recent years and won the Race of Champions’ Nations Cup in 2022; the 49-year-old, who turns 50 in November, is also interested in cross-country and wants to run the Dakar Rally someday. Two-time WRC titlist Marcus Grönholm, who is 56, was brought up as a potential Masters competitor as well.
Hołowczyc ran twenty-one WRC rallies between 1996 and 2015. His best finish was a sixth at the 2009 Rally Poland.
“It would be wonderful to race again with this group of amazing drivers,” Hołowczyc said. “I think that it is fantastic that the FIA created such a class in WRC Masters. It would be beautiful if I showed up there.
“But of course, I love cross-country and Baja Poland. I can’t imagine not being here. Such is the fate of a driver who has dreams and can’t always fulfill them.”