Andreas Mikkelsen leads the way on Rally Poland following Ott Tänak’s early retirement, while Mārtiņš Sesks holds a surprising second place in his non-hybrid Ford Puma Rally1.
Tänak collided with a deer at full speed on stage two and had to retire at the next corner, with the front end of his i20 N Rally1 badly damaged by the impact.
Mikkelsen won stages two and four while Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville recorded a stage win on stage three – but only because the stage was canceled after three cars had passed through due to spectator control problems.
Sesks was shocked to find out after Friday morning’s opening stage he’d gone 0.3s faster but the Olecko stage was more representative of his hardware deficit, his car running without the 135bhp hybrid system.
The lead M-Sport car – which is not registered for manufacturers’ points – is now 7.4s adrift of the rally lead with 4.5s in hand to Elfyn Evans behind.
M-Sport managing director Malcolm Wilson was full of praise for his customer driver: “What can you say? I don’t think I’ve seen anyone adapt as quickly to a World Rally Car as that on his first proper stage.”
Evans has picked up the mantle of lead Toyota from team-mate Kalle Rovanperä, taking third position on Olecko as the reigning world champion struggled with his lack of preparation.
Sébastien Ogier’s recce accident meant Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen did not study any videos until arriving in Poland, leaving him frustrated at playing catchup.
“It’s quite funny,” said Rovanperä at the end of stage four. “Last night I was watching this [stage’s] video from the laptop, I fell asleep on top of the laptop. So the preparation was not so easy. With this road position we should be at least 10s faster than this time.”
M-Sport team-mates Adrien Fourmaux and Grégoire Munster are separated by only 0.8s in fifth and sixth position after a big push from the latter driver on Olecko.
Munster set the second-fastest time on Olecko, his best result on a WRC stage to date
Olecko’s famous jump came close to ending Munster’s rally, as he went over it without lifting but off-line and landed off the road, collecting it up and continuing on his way.
But that heavy impact was felt fully in the cockpit, as Munster explained: “We were thinking to take it flat and we did, but the landing was quite harsh for Louis [Louka, co-driver], so he had to catch his breath,” he said. “We were laughing because it happened too Sébastien Loeb with Daniel Elena and when it happened he said, on attack, we push, so we were joking for half the stage.”
Neuville’s road sweeping duties were compounded by a technical issue, with his handbrake locking all four wheels rather than only the rears. That caused a couple of overshoots on Olecko, at one point causing him to miss an intersection entirely.
Takamoto Katsuta has fallen to last place of the Rally1 crews in eighth, still expressing a lack of confidence to push.
Sami Pajari leads WRC2 by 4.7s, with local hero Kajetan Kajetanowicz taking second place after Olecko after recording a stage win in front of his home fans.
Toksport pairing Oliver Solberg and Gus Greensmith have fallen away from the podium places and were both frustrated for differing reasons.
“Absolutely s***,” said Solberg of his Friday morning loop. “Very slippery. There is no line whatsoever, I am everywhere. It gives me no confidence. Awful to drive.”
Greensmith meanwhile complained that a chicane on Olecko had been incorrectly implemented relative to the road book and recce: “It’s going s*** this morning,” he sumarized.
