Andreas Mikkelsen’s Rally Poland lead has been cut to 0.5s by the chasing Kalle Rovanperä, who won yet another red-flagged stage at the start of Saturday’s action.
Three cars were initially able to pass through Świętajno – Ott Tänak, Takamoto Katsuta and Thierry Neuville – before a red flag for spectator control problems was deployed, the fifth such interruption of the rally so far.
M-Sport team principal Richard Millener pleaded with the minority of fans causing issues to stand further back to ensure stages will run.
“We’ve only had three cars through,” said Millener during the red flag period. “These kind of things really frustrate me, that 95% of people are doing what they’re asked, they’re being safe.
“It’s really upsetting for me when these people have put their hard earned money to buy the tickets to come and watch us and aren’t able to see the action because of the actions of very few people. They have to respect what the organisers are trying to achieve, which is that everyone who comes to watch a rally comes home at the end of the day too.
“We don’t need to see their footage they’re trying to get, we have enough good footage as it is. We don’t need people standing on the inside of corners trying to get a great shot because it’s just stupid.
“It’s very frustrating for all of us. There’s a fantastic battle happening on this rally, this rally brings incredible scenes and it’s being ruined by a very small number of people. It doesn’t impress us with what they’re trying to achieve from standing in silly places, so all I ask is that they take onboard what we’re trying to do to keep everyone safe and stand back where you’re supposed to be so we can all enjoy it properly over the rest of the weekend.”
When action resumed Rovanperä went 1.8s faster than Mikkelsen to zone in on the top spot, with Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans a further 1.1s behind in third overall.
Adrien Fourmaux is target a podium finish but wasn't able to match the pace of the lead trio early doors
Adrien Fourmaux strengthened his grip on fourth place with fourth-fastest time, well clear of the drivers behind him on the overall leaderboard.
Championship leader Thierry Neuville has a clearly stated aim of reaching fifth position by the end of Saturday’s action; to achieve that he must catch and pass the M-Sport Ford Pumas of Grégoire Munster and Mārtiņš Sesks.
Though Neuville did manage to carve 5.9s out of Munster, he could only take 0.2s away from Sesks’ non-hybrid Puma, so his target position remains 21.9s away from him.
