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2015 Rally Poland - Four-way fight for the Polish podium

04.07.15

Reigning FIA World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier sits at the top of the Rally Poland leaderboard this evening but the Frenchman is being chased hard by team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen, the Norwegian just 5.6 seconds adrift after nearly 280 kilometres of competition. The fight behind them is also intense with Jari-Matti Latvala and Ott Tanak trading third position throughout the afternoon. Tanak claimed the position overnight, but is only 17.6 seconds adrift of the lead and a mere 1.5 seconds ahead of Latvala with less than 30 stage kilometres remaining on Sunday.

Today’s route took in six stages before the crews returned to Mikolajki for the third and final run around the super special stage. For the first time this season Ogier has started the second day again running first on the road, such has been the lack of retirees who would have been seeded ahead of him. The Frenchman nevertheless confounded his rivals by setting the pace again and two stage wins from the morning loop of four stages secured a 7.2 second advantage over Mikkelsen by the mid-day service. This afternoon, with SS14 cancelled for safety reasons, Mikkelsen had fewer kilometres to make an impact on Ogier but one stage win helped him close the overnight gap to less than six seconds. Tanak, fourth last night, won two of the morning’s stages, inching ahead of Latvala by one-tenth of a second after four stages, despite losing time with a spin in the first stage. This afternoon the rivals traded third position but victory in the penultimate stage secured Tanak the provisional podium position.

Hayden Paddon remains fifth this evening but the New Zealander has achieved his goal of securing a 20 second cushion over Thierry Neuville ahead of tomorrow’s closing stages. The Belgian wasn’t on the optimum tyres this afternoon but he remains ahead of national hero Robert Kubica who has driven steadily but had a spin in the first stage. Kris Meeke has lacked some confidence today but the Northern Irish driver has an outside chance of overhauling the Pole tomorrow, just 10.2 seconds separating them. Mads Østberg has not been entirely in the groove in Poland and he and Dani Sordo round off the top 10. The only retirement of the day was Eflyn Evans who was forced out with a damaged water pump.

In the FIA WRC 2 Championship, Skoda drivers top the leaderboard with Esapekka Lappi ahead of team-mate Pontus Tidemand. The FIA WRC 3 and Junior WRC Championships are being led by Simone Tempestini after Osian Pryce suffered an engine problem.

Lotos Rally Poland – Unofficial Results after Section 5

1.   Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia

Volkswagen Polo R WRC

2hr 12min 23.2sec

2.   Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene

Volkswagen Polo R WRC

2hr 12min 28.8sec

3.   Ott Tanak/Raigo Molder

Ford Fiesta RS WRC

2hr 12min 40.8sec

4.   Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila

Volkswagen Polo R WRC

2hr 12min 42.3sec

5.   Hayden Paddon/John Kennard

Hyundai i20 WRC

2hr 13min 18.9sec

6.   Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul

Hyundai i20 WRC

2hr 13min 38.3sec

7.   Robert Kubica/Maciej Szczepaniak

Ford Fiesta RS WRC

2hr 13min 52.4sec

8.   Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle

DS3 WRC

2hr 14min 02.6sec

9.   Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson

DS 3 WRC

2hr 14min 19.2sec

10. Dani Sordo/Marc Marti

Hyundai i20 WRC

2hr 14min 40.3sec