The first stage of the Rally Poland, the seventh round of the 2024 WRC, began again this morning with Special Stage 2, the 29.40 kilometer Stańczyki 1, in which the general classification suffered a strong shake-up.
Ott Tanak, leader after winning the show test held last night, was forced to retire while he was busy doing the third sector. The Estonian from Hyundai Motorsport hit a deer that entered the test just moments before he passed through a fast section, in which Ott was proceeding at almost 190 km/h. In the impact the i20 suffered considerable damage to the engine cooling components.
Tanak was then forced to park on the side of the road, immediately retiring from the event. A hard blow for Hyundai, which however managed to maintain the lead of the standings thanks to Andreas Mikkelsen.
The Norwegian, who entered the test second from last, took advantage of his excellent starting position to set the best time of 14’54″7, making him the fastest of all. A good return for Andreas, who certainly hadn’t shone in his last appearance Of note, however, was an error that led him to hit a bale of hay along the route due to an imprecise note that damaged the rear bumper of his i20 N Rally1.
But the one who really impressed at the start of the day is Martins Sesks. The Latvian driver, making his debut at the wheel of a Rally1 (remember, without a hybrid) set the second time in the special, just 3 tenths of a second from the reference time set by Mikkelsen.
The 24-year-old rookie preceded the first Toyota, the GR Yaris Rally1 of Kalle Rovanpera, by 7.3 seconds, and the second Ford Puma Rally1 of M-Sport entrusted to Adrien Fourmaux by 7.6 seconds. The Frenchman made an excellent start, capable of maintaining a good pace on a surface that was indigestible for him until a few months ago.
Elfyn Evans closes the Top 5 with the second Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 ahead of Gregoire Munster. Takamoto Katsuta and Thierry Neuville struggled in this special, but for different reasons. The Belgian, as leader of the World Championship, is opening the tests and is forced to clean the floor, which was very penalizing in this weekend, while the Japanese instead struggled to find the right rhythm despite having a very competitive starting position.
As for WRC2, Sami Pajari continued his magic moment, setting a good time ahead of Josh McErlean and Robert Virves. Oliver Solberg, on the other hand, was in difficulty, losing about 16 seconds to Pajari after losing power in the engine.
WRC 2024 – Rally Poland – Standings after SS2
Pos. | Pilot/navigator | Car | Time/Detachment |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Mikkelsen/Eriksen | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid | 16’39”0 |
2 | Sesks/Francis | Ford Puma Rally1 | +2″2 |
3 | Rovanpera/Halttunen | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid | +7″9 |
4 | Fourmaux/Coria | Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid | +8″0 |
5 | Evans/Martin | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid | +8″0 |
6 | Munster/Louka | Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid | +12″8 |
7 | Katsuta/Johnston | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid | +19″1 |
8 | Neuville/Wydaeghe | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid | +21″2 |
9 | Pajari/Malkonen | Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 | +46″3 |
10 | McErlean/Fulton | Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 | +49″7 |
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