Day 1
Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen headed into Friday evening with the Rally Poland lead from Martins Sesks, who stunned on his World Rally Championship Rally1 debut.
Mikkelsen impressed throughout the morning to win two of the three stages to leap into a 7.4s lead from Sesks, who is driving a non-hybrid powered Ford Puma Rally1 car.
Elfyn Evans limited the damage of starting high in the road order to lead Toyota’s charge in third [+11.9s] ahead of Sebastien Ogier’s replacement Kalle Rovanpera [+14.2s], with M-Sport’s Adrien Foumaux in fifth [+15.1s].
M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster [+15.9s], championship leader Thierry Neuville [+32.2s] and Takamoto Katsuta [+38.0s] rounded out the Rally1 field after Ott Tanak’s retirement which he collied with a deer after leading the early stages of the event.
Day 2
Kalle Rovanpera produced a stunning drive in challenging circumstances to lead Rally Poland heading into the final day of the seventh round of the World Rally Championship.
The last-minute replacement for Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier, who suffered a pre-event reconnaissance crash, won six of the day’s seven stages to open up a 9.4s lead over Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen.
A right-rear tyre delamination cost title contender Elfyn Evans his grip on second place as the Toyota driver had to settle for third [+16.1s] for 13 points. M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux drove smartly to hold onto fourth [+37.0s] to pick up 10 points.
Rally1 debutant Martins Sesks [+58.2s] hung onto fifth by 0.1s from championship leader and Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville [+58.3s], who took a provisional eight points. M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster [+1m24.5s] and Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta [+1m41.9s] rounded out the top eight.
Day 3
Kalle Rovanpera sealed one of the finest victories of his World Rally Championship career at Rally Poland after overcoming limited preparation as a last-minute stand-in for Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier.
In the end Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen won eight of the 19 gravel stages on the way to completing a remarkable victory by +28.3 from Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin. M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria secured their third WRC podium of the season in third [+42.3s].
Neuville finished fourth overall [+1m10.8s] but could only score 14 points after finishing fifth on Saturday, fifth in the Sunday classification and first on the Power Stage.
Hyundai opted to retire Tanak on Saturday afternoon given he was out of the running for championship points to focus on the Super Sunday points. The move proved to be inspired as the Estonian secured 11 points for topping the Sunday classification and coming second in the Power Stage.
M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster, who showed flashes of speed, finished 8.7s ahead of Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta in seventh. The top nine was completed by WRC2 winner Sami Pajari who took the class win from Oliver Solberg.
