Friday - SS2: Mikkelsen blitzes Friday opener at 131kph!
131kph! That was the amazing average speed posted by Andreas Mikkelsen who won Friday’s opening stage at 72nd LOTOS Rally Poland to move into the lead of this seventh round of the FIA World Rally Championship.
The Norwegian, whose form was rewarded with a new contract at Volkswagen last week, was half a second quicker than Ott Tanak and admitted third in the start order had helped.
“There will be some road cleaning here and it will get faster and faster. A clean stage for me with a good rhythm, but not the biggest risks. I’m happy with my pace,” said the Polo R pilot.
It didn’t get faster but Tanak came close to toppling Mikkelsen, although the Estonian was concerned about a gearbox glitch in his Ford Fiesta RS.
“I pushed quite hard but at the beginning of the stage we were stuck between two gears. I hope it was a one-off,” said Tanak, who was sidelined in the previous round in Italy with a similar problem.
Kris Meeke put yesterday’s shakedown roll behind him to go third fastest in Citroen’s DS 3, while S?bastien Ogier was fifth in his Polo R to hold third overall, just 0.5sec behind Tanak and 1.3sec ahead of team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala.
Hyundai pair Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo reported hanging dust in the forest section but there were bigger problems for WRC 2 points leader Nasser Al-Attiyah, who parked his Fiesta RRC after just 4.5km with broken front left suspension.
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53. 112 USA W. HUDSON 9:16.7 +3.2 +1:35.2
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SS4: Tanak double earns Poland lead
Two consecutive stage victories promoted Ott Tanak to the top of the 72nd LOTOS Rally Poland leaderboard on Friday morning.
He won the first pass through Goldap in his Ford Fiesta RS to relegate Andreas Mikkelsen to second by a tenth of a second. Tanak followed up with victory in Babki to increase his lead to 4.9sec.
“The car is perfect and I’m enjoying myself,” he said. “My instructions were to let the other guys know we’re here for the second half of the season and we’re competitive, so we’re trying to show them.”
Mikkelsen was second in Goldap and third in Babki in his Volkswagen Polo R, with Sebastien Ogier preserving third in the standings, 5.6sec behind his team-mate, courtesy of second fastest in Babki.
The Frenchman, first in the start order, said he was losing time cleaning the loose gravel from the roads. “I could have taken more risks in the first stage but I was flat out in the last two. It’s slippery and I can’t do more, so I hope that later I have better conditions,” he said.
Third in Goldap kept Jari-Matti Latvala in fourth overall, but the big mover was Hayden Paddon, who climbed from ninth to fifth in his Hyundai i20 with top five times in both tests.
Mads Ostberg misjudged a crest in Babki and plunged off the road briefly in Citroen’s DS 3. “The speeds are so high that even a small mistake here makes the heart beat faster,” admitted the Norwegian.
Hanging dust in the forested section of Babki caused issues for several drivers, including Mikkelsen, Latvala and Thierry Neuville, while Dani Sordo struggled with pace note problems in his i20.
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54. 112 USA W. HUDSON 18:25.6 +1.3 +3:03.7
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57. 112 USA W. HUDSON 27:14.3 +1.4 +4:41.0
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SS5: Three out of three for Ott
Ott Tanak completed a hat-trick of stage wins in Friday morning’s speed tests to extend his advantage in 72nd LOTOS Rally Poland.
Victory in Stanczyki, the longest test of this seventh round of the FIA World Rally Championship, stretched his lead to 9.3sec as competitors headed to Goldap, close to the Russian border, for the leg’s only tyre change opportunity.
The Estonian completed the test with the front tyres on his Ford Fiesta RS badly worn, the legacy of a brake problem which hindered him for the last two stages. “Sometimes only the front brakes are working,” he explained.
Andreas Mikkelsen, second in a Volkswagen Polo R but 4.4sec slower than T?nak, was hoping the repeat afternoon stages would offer more equal conditions after losing time sweeping gravel from the roads.
“Ott has done a great job and we’ll see if he is as fast this afternoon. And don’t say Sebastien Ogier isn’t a threat either. He’ll be very fast in the second loop,” said Mikkelsen.
Ogier was third in Stanczyki, the Frenchman slipping 16.7sec behind T?nak but happy with his speed from first on the road. He was 6.1sec ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala in the standings but it was a bad stage for the Finn, who made three mistakes, the worst of which left his Polo R hanging over a ditch.
Kris Meeke and Thierry Neuville relegated Hayden Paddon as they climbed to fifth and sixth respectively. Paddon struggled to find a rhythm in his Hyundai i20 but stayed ahead of local hero Robert Kubica, Elfyn Evans and Dani Sordo.
The morning was characterised by a blistering pace on the sandy gravel roads and less than nine seconds covered Meeke in fifth and Evans in ninth.
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64. 112 USA W. HUDSON 56:59.2 +1.4 +14:58.6 .....sadly they rolled !!...and quote Alex .."Well, if you have to roll might as well do it in a beautiful place. We are both ok, car not so much."
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SS6
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SS7: Ogier charges into Poland lead
Sebastien Ogier turned the 72nd LOTOS Rally Poland leaderboard on its head after winning Friday afternoon’s opening two stages to take the lead.
He was quickest by 1.5sec in his Volkswagen Polo R from Robert Kubica in the repeated Babki stage before climbing from third to first in the second pass through Stanczyki, where he outpaced team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala by 1.2sec.
Ott Tanak ceded 16.0sec and the lead to Ogier in Stanczyki, the Estonian regretting his tyre choice and continuing to struggle with brake problems in his Ford Fiesta RS.
As air temperatures rose to near 30˚C, tyre selection became a complex issue. Many drivers opted for soft compound rubber for the soft and sandy roads, but the heat prompted some to favour harder covers, which proved the right choice for the rally’s longest stage.
Tanak chose soft and dropped to third in the standings. “No brakes, no tyres. I don’t know how we can mess up our tyre choice so often. OK, it’s done and we all agreed with the choice, but it’s not nice,” said the Estonian.
Andreas Mikkelsen dropped time after sliding into a field in Babki, but third in the following test kept the Norwegian in second place, 1.7sec behind team-mate Ogier.
Hayden Paddon took hard rubber for his Hyundai i20 and fourth in Stanczyki promoted the Kiwi back into fifth, behind Latvala and ahead of Citroen’s Kris Meeke and Thierry Neuville. The Belgian retained sixth, but Meeke plunged three places to eighth with wrong tyres.
Lorenzo Bertelli punctured his Fiesta’s front left tyre while Kevin Abbring and Elfyn Evans overshot junctions, the Welshman another driver to rue his tyre choice.
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SS8: Latvala win secures third
Jari-Matti Latvala claimed a maiden stage victory at 72nd LOTOS Rally Poland to climb into third and give Volkswagen Motorsport a grip on all three podium places.
The Finn was fastest in his Polo R through Friday’s penultimate Goldap stage by 0.8sec from a resurgent Mads Ostberg, relegating former leader Ott T?nak to fourth in his Ford Fiesta RS.
As temperatures neared 30˚C, Latvala had worn tyres after including three soft covers in his choice but the Finn was encouraged by their performance.
“The tyres weren’t in such good shape but it’s amazing how much you can push on them even though there’s not much tread left,” he said.
Team-mate Sebastien Ogier stretched his lead over Andreas Mikkelsen to 1.9sec after edging the Norwegian by 0.2sec, the pair third and fourth in the stage. Latvala is a further 6.2sec behind.
Brake and tyre issues continued to haunt T?nak who dropped 12.3sec and trailed Latvala by 5.2sec.
Kris Meeke lost more time after sliding Citroen’s DS 3 into a field and Elfyn Evans dropped off the leaderboard after losing more time with badly worn rubber on his Fiesta RS.
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