Andreas Mikkelsen’s hopes of a first World Rally Championship win in almost eight years have been ended by a puncture on Sunday’s opening stage of Rally Poland, Gmina Mrągowo.
Hyundai’s best-placed driver after Saturday’s action started the final day 9.4s behind rally leader Kalle Rovanperä and was given freedom by team principal Cyril Abiteboul to chase after the win.
But Mikkelsen clipped a bank midway through Sunday’s first test, which caused a puncture. The flailing rubber then ripped most of the right-rear bodywork from his car and also impacted one of the radiators that cool the hybrid system.
Most of the damage to Mikkelsen's car appears cosmetic, though he has holed one of the radiators that cool his car's hybrid system
“We tried to keep the pressure on Kalle, we tried to have a good pace but that’s the game,” said Mikkelsen at the finish line. “Now overall doesn’t matter so much, now it’s just getting the car to the finish. We tried to keep the pressure.”
Mikkelsen was not the only driver caught out by Gmina Mrągowo’s fast but narrow nature; WRC2 runner Josh McErlean smacked a bale perched up against a tree exiting the final corner of the stage and crossed the flying finish backwards.
While he finished the stage he also ended his rally, ripping the right-rear wheel off his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 when he impacted the bale.
“The last corner, it tightens at the very end,” explained McErlean. ”We hit the bale and there was a tree, so I don’t think we can do much. Sorry to the team.”
Ott Tänak put in a performance that wowed his rivals, going fastest by 1.2s to lead the Sunday classification despite starting as first car on the road and undertaking road sweeping duties.
Leading the plaudits was Adrien Fourmaux, who has inherited third place overall with Mikkelsen’s puncture woe: “Congratulations to Ott, first on the road and with that time,” he said. “He was deserving to win this rally, it’s a shame what happened on Friday.
“I’m just amazed because I know what it is to open the road. He’s just in another world today.”
His team-mate Thierry Neuville chimed in, admitting: “I couldn’t do that time, that’s for sure.”
Rally leader Rovanperä was similarly complimentary: “You can imagine how good Ott was on the stage when he was first on the road, so props to him.”
Rovanperä’s lead overall is up to 17.4s over team-mate Elfyn Evans; the Toyota pair are second and third in the Sunday standings, 1.3s apart.
Thierry Neuville has taken fifth place overall away from Mārtiņš Sesks, having fallen 0.1s short of usurping him before the the critical Saturday cut-off for points the day before; he is also fifth in the Sunday running behind Fourmaux.
Robert Virves has retaken second place in WRC2 from Oliver Solberg, winning Sunday’s opening stage by 0.6s from class leader Sami Pajari.
