Krzysztof Hołowczyc

Krzysztof Holowczyc was born 04.06.1962, in Olsztyn, Poland. He is undoubtedly the holder of the greatest number of titles among Polish rally drivers, many times Polish Rally Champion, European Rally Champion and a serious contender in many World Rally Championship events and a public authority on road safety. He is one of the most popular sportsmen and celebrity persons in Poland.

Rally career

In 1984 Krzysztof, driving a Fiat 125p, entered his first rally. In the following year Holowczyc became the group N Polish Rally Champion. Later on Krzysztof enjoyed a successful year 1995 with Stomil Olsztyn Mobil 1 Team resulting in the Polish Rally Champion title and a brilliant 2nd overall in European Rally Championship. In 1997 driving Subaru Impreza 555 Holowczyc wins the Albena, Elpa and Cyprus Rallies and became European Rally Champion. As a result of this remarkable achievement he is included in Federation Internationale de L'Automobile (FIA) "A" priority list among the world's  top rally drivers. In 1998 Krzysztof Holowczyc driving a Subaru Impreza WRC enters 5 World Championship events and achieves spectacular results - his 7th place at the Argentina Rally is still the best performance of a Polish driver in the history of Individual World Rally Championship. The year 1999 is devoted to the Polish Rally Championship. Driving a Subaru Impreza WRC Holowczyc  wins Polish Rally Champion title for the third time. In 2001 Krzysztof Holowczyc competed in the Polish Rally Championship with a Peugeot 206 WRC where he became 2nd overall in the Championship. In season 2003 he attended PC WRC Championship with Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. In 2004 he won the Kormoran Rally for the sixth time with Subaru Impreza. In 2005 he won Polski Rally (third time), a round of European Championship again with a Subaru Impreza. In 2007 he was 2nd in Polski Rally and Orlen Rally and  won Agapit Rally (Subaru Impreza). In 2008 he won Orlen Rally (Peugeot 207 S2000).

He came back on WRC track late in June 2009 with M-Sport’s Ford Focus WRC08 entered by Team Stobart in ORLEN Platinum 66. Polski Rally, which was 8th round of World Rally Championship.  Krzysztof did a fantastic drive considering the long break in WRC career and the small amount of time he spent in the WRC car prior to the event. In his home rally in front of a very enthusiastic bunch of supporters, but making the extra pressure on their idol, he took fantastic 6TH place overall, in front of five times world champion Sebastien Loeb.  He improved his old record (7th in Rally Argentina 1998) and scored 3 valuable points in the championship, which is the best result for Polish driver in WRC ever. 

Krzysztof Holowczyc prefers technical, difficult rallies."The more demanding they are, the better for me." he says. Many consider him to be a gravel specialist, though his remarkable results during tarmac and winter rallies prove that he has developed the highest skill for every type of rallying conditions.

Cross Country Rallies career

In 2005  ORLEN Team engaged Krzysztof Holowczyc for Cross Country rallies. Together with his co-pilot Jean Marc Fortin they participated in Dakar in 2005, 2006, 2007  2009 and 2010.

Dakar 2005 was his debut in Cross Country rallies. After several technical problems occurred on his Ralliart’s Mitsubishi Pajero, he finally finished this legendary rally on 60th  place, showing on some stages his great potential taking 8th, 12th and 14th position overall. Since 2006 he has been driving Nissan cars: Pickup (prepared by Nissan Dessoude) and Navara (prepared by  Overdrive Racing). In 2006 he stopped his Dakar after 4th leg due to engine failure in his Pick-up. In 2007 he crashed his Navara on 13th leg, showing great performance on previous stages. 

Participating occasionally in FIA Cross Country Cup rallies, he took twice the excellent  4th place in Tunisia Rally (2006, 2008).

In 2008 Holowczyc have scored excellent second place in overall classification of FIA World CUP for Cross-Country Rallies. It is  the greatest achievement of Polish driver in cross-country rallies ever. 

In 2009 he participated in Dakar Rally, held in  South America (Argentina - Chile) and finished 5th overall (Nissan Navara), making another record of Polish driver in Dakar. He also set some stage records, especially being 2nd on stage to Cordoba.   He also took excellent 6th place overall ( Ford Focus WRC 08) in Rally of Poland, a leg of WRC, which is also another record in Polish motporsport.

Year 2010 has started with Dakar Rally. Krzysztof has pushed very hard from the beginning,  being 5-6 all the time. Unfortunately the rear axle defect of his Nissan Navara on 9th stage has excluded him of the race. Later in 2010 Holowczyc participated in FIA Cup for Cross-Country Bajas. He won Italian Baja and Baja Portalegre and took 3rd place in Baja Espana Aragon. Holowczyc finally won FIA Cup for Cross-Country Bajas 2010. He also won VW Scirocco R-Cup race at Norisring in Legend Driver category. Later in 2010 Holowczyc has joined the BMW X-raid Rally Team to start in Dakar 2011 in a work BMW X3 CC, as a team driver. In his BMW debut he took 3 rd place in OilLibya Morocco Rally.

Year 2011 began with excellent achievement when he repeated his best result being 5Th overall in Dakar Rally. In July 2011 Holowczyc won really tuff Silk Way Rally in Russia driving BMW X3 CC.

Public activity

Since December 2007  to July 2009 Krzysztof Holowczyc was Member of the European Parliament. In European Parliament Holowczyc worked in: Committee on Transport and Tourism, Committee on International Trade and Delegation for relations with Belarus.

He is also well known for his concern about the safety of driving in Poland. Holowczyc took part in a nation-wide social campaign "Drunken drivers are carrying the death" which helped to enforce legislation against drunken drivers. In 1999 he co-founded the first Polish professional driving school (SJS), which continuously helps everyday drivers to improve their skills for a greater safety on Polish roads. In 2004 he established "Safe Driver" Foundation which aim is the improvement of road safety in Poland. The Foundation runs a multidimensional activity, cooperates with public institutions and private enterprises, coordinates the actions and patronages road safety initiatives. Cooperating with MIVA Poland, Polish Motor Federation (PZM), Polish Police Headquarters and National Road Safety Council, the ‘Safe Driver’ Foundation has soon become one of the most active and opinion-forming NGO organization, especially within Road Safety area.

Sponsors

The main sponsor of Holowczyc (since 2004)  is PKN ORLEN - a Polish company and one of Central Europe’s largest refiners of crude oil. Orlen specializes in processing crude oil into world-class unleaded petrol, diesel, heating oil, and aviation fuel as well as plastics and other petroleum related products. PKN ORLEN operates 7 refineries, of which 3 are located in Plock, Trzebinia and Jedlicze (Poland), another 3 in Litvinov, Kralupy and Pardubice (the Czech Republic) and 1 in Mazeikiu (Lithuania). The total deep processing capacity of the refineries reaches 31.7 million tones per annum. PKN ORLEN’s retail network comprises approximately 2,700 outlets offering services in Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Lithuania. In Poland petrol stations operate under three brands: ORLEN (premium brand), Petrochemia Plock and BLISKA (economy brand). Clients in Germany are served at stations branded ORLEN and STAR, and in the Czech Republic at outlets bearing standard Benzina and premium Benzina Plus logos. Petrol stations in Lithuania operate under the ORLEN Lietuva and Ventus logos.

He is also involved in promotional activities of: ORLEN OIL (Platinum oils), Atlantic Watches, AutoMapa (car navigation). Recently has signed contract with Monster Energy, one of World’s leaders of energy drinks.