With double winner and points leader Filip Kohn delayed on leg one due to tyre damage and a brake issues, Kazaz seized his opportunity, taking the lead on SS2 and holding first place until Tristan Charpentier edged in front on SS7.
But Kazaz was back in the lead at the completion of SS11 following Charpentier’s exit. Despite a late scare on the rain-hit Power Stage, the 18-year-old claimed victory ahead of the recovering Kohn and Igor Widłak.
“It was a hard rally,” said the Turkish driver. “But I was not pushing after the first stage on the final morning, just going to the end. “On the last stage I had a big spin, nearly going off. But we won so it’s good.”
Kazaz is now 14 points behind Kohn ahead of Rally di Roma Capitale, round four of the ERC Fiesta Rally3 Trophy from 26 - 28 July.
“I had a good start to the rally but I hit the left-front [on SS2] and lost a bit of concentration but there was no problem at the end,” Kazaz said. “When it started to rain it was a bit hard to see the road so I was not pushing so much.
“I missed a chicane [on SS7] and went straight on so I had to reverse and lost a lot of time, we lose our position so we started to push to come back. Then when we saw Tristan on the left side of the road I slowed down just cruised to the finish. The car was working well.”
ERC Fiesta Rally3 Trophy: How it works Partnering with Pirelli and Gulf Race Fuels in establishing the ERC Fiesta Rally3 Trophy, M-Sport Poland has identified the European championship as the perfect arena to showcase the performance, reliability and accessibility of its four-wheel-drive challenger.
To ensure, competitors get access to the best technical assistance available, M-Sport Poland will attend all events with a fully stocked spares vehicle, while its engineers will be available to provide technical support when required.
All drivers will use the same specification Pirelli tyre and Gulf’s MSR EVO2 fuel, which will be available on site at every Fiesta Rally3 Trophy event at a discounted price of €2.00 a litre.
The eventual ERC Fiesta Rally3 Trophy winner is handed a fully funded drive package for October’s Central European Rally, round 12 of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship.
Pirelli is generously offering a 15 per cent discount on event tyre packages to all participants. The winner of each Fiesta Rally3 Trophy event will secure 12 new tyres for use on the next event, the runner-up will receive six new tyres with two new tyres going to the third-place finisher.
Gulf Race Fuels will reward the winner of each round with 300 litres of Gulf MSR EVO2 fuel. The drivers finishing second and third will receive 150 and 50 litres respectively.