Kubica says gathering experience more important than rally wins

The Pole has now won his class in two of the three World Rally Championship events he has contested, which have been his first competitive gravel rallies.

Asked what the dominant Acropolis and Italy WRC 2 wins meant to him, Kubica replied: "It doesn't mean a lot, to be honest. What I have learned means a lot, it's very big knowledge.

"I did only three events, but when you have zero experience those three events bring you, percentage-wise, a lot of experience."

Although he regards this season as a learning quest, Kubica reckons he learns more when flat out.

"From experience comes lessons and knowledge," he said.

"When you drive slow, you try to finish the rally but you don't learn so much because you have to be close to the limit to see if the pace notes are right, in order to see how the car behaves, how the surface grip is changing. So you have to find the balance."

He also insists he is under no illusions about how much progress he must still make despite his recent wins.

"Of course it looks nice but I know that from my point of view there is a long way to go and in order to achieve things I want to improve my pace." Kubica said.

CAN KUBICA BE WRC 2 CHAMPION?

Kubica is only fourth in the class standings, 35 points behind leader Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, who finished a distant second in Italy.

But the title battle is still wide open under the WRC 2 system. Competitors enter seven rallies of their choice from the 13-round calendar, and count their best six scores.

Al-Kuwari has already done five rallies to Kubica's three, while second and third placed Nicolas Fuchs and Yuriy Protasov have now done six rounds.

AUTOSPORT understands that, despite stating concerns about how far his budget will stretch, Kubica will do a full seven-round programme, so has a fair chance of outscoring those ahead.

He must also watch for works-supported Skoda drivers Sepp Wiegand and Esapekka Lappi. Wiegand has done four rallies and is three points behind Kubica, while the highly-rated Lappi might only have 25 points to date, but has only started two events.

WRC 2 standings after seven of 13 rounds:

Pos Driver Points Rallies contested 1. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari 93 (5) 2. Nicolas Fuchs 78 (6) 3. Yuriy Protasov 65 (6) 4. Robert Kubica 58 (3) 5. Sepp Wiegand 55 (4) 6. Armin Kremer 40 (4) 7. Ricardo Trevino 39 (5) 8. Rashid Al-Ketbi 26 (4) 9. Yazeed Al Rahji 25 (1) 10. Esapekka Lappi 25 (2)