Robert Kubica responds to rumours that he could be behind the wheel of a WRC car himself for the WRC comeback of Rally Poland in June 2024
On Monday, it was announced that Rally Poland from 27-30 June 2024 will once again be part of the World Rally Championship (WRC) race calendar after a break of many years. But does that also mean that fans in the country can look forward to a comeback of national hero Robert Kubica? The former Formula 1 and rally driver is sceptical and describes a possible return to the WRC cockpit as “not easy”.
While Kubica was present at the announcement of the Rally Poland WRC comeback in Nikolaiken on Monday. However, looking ahead to the date on the last weekend of June 2024, he sees himself more as a spectator than an active participant on site.
“The return of the Rally Poland to the WRC calendar is of course great news and a nice surprise for the fans, not only the Polish ones,” said Kubica. Referring to his compatriots Mikolaj Marczyk and Kajetan Kajetanowicz competing in the WRC, he added: “Especially now that both ‘Miko’ and ‘Kajto’ are regularly racing on the international stage, it’s something special.”
However, Kubica directly took the wind out of the sails of rumours about his own comeback in the WRC, where he last competed in the 2016 season at the Rally Monte Carlo: “There is a lot of information circulating and there are people who believe I will take part in the rally. From today’s perspective, however, I have to say that I am very happy with what I have. It’s been almost eight years now since I was last in a rally car. So it would not be an easy task.”
Since his last rally to date, Kubica’s career has included another full Formula One season (2019 for Williams), a full DTM season (2020 for ART-BMW) and several full seasons in endurance racing. In 2021, he won the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) title together with Switzerland’s Louis Deletraz and China’s Yifei Ye.
In the current 2023 racing season, Kubica is on course for the title in the LMP2 class of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) together with Deletraz and Angolan Rui Andrade. “I am concentrating on my programme in the WEC. We have one more race on the schedule there now,” said Kubica.
With a view to the Rally Poland 2024, the country’s best-known motor sportsman says: “From today’s perspective, I can say with certainty that I will be there as a supporter. Will it possibly be in another role? I don’t know yet. It would not be easy. I think my place is on the circuit. That’s what I’m focusing on. To represent the country [in rallying] in a worthy manner, I leave that to others. “
In his active career in the World Rally Championship, which began in 2013 with a part-time season in a Citroen DS3 WRC, included a full season in 2014 with a Ford Fiesta RS WRC and included selected further starts with a Fiesta in 2015 and finally in 2016, Kubica has made it into the top 5 overall once. That was at the 2013 Rally Germany, a season in which he became the champion in the WRC2 classification with five class wins.
Kubica has contested the Rally Poland a total of three times, in 2013, 2014 and 2015, although in 2013 it was not on the World Rally Championship calendar, but on the European Rally Championship (ERC) calendar. Kubica’s best result on home soil was P8 in the 2015 WRC season.
Even though he himself is not planning to be on the grid for the WRC comeback of the Rally Poland, Kubica is still keen to beat the promotional drum: “I have fond memories of this rally. It’s my favourite rally, and I’m not just saying that because I’m from Poland myself. The special stages and the fans are fantastic. From my point of view, all the ingredients are there to make this rally a great event, as it has been in the past, maybe even a better one. “
