With the arrival of the trio on fast gravel it was clear that the favorites for success became the Scandinavian drivers. Kalle Rovanpera won the Rally Poland and did it as a champion, because, let’s remember, he was called up at the last minute by Toyota Gazoo Racing to replace the injured Sébastien Ogier, protagonist of an accident during the reconnaissance of the event in which he was supposed to take part this weekend.
Rapid reconnaissance and little time to become familiar with the route, but from Saturday onwards the 2-time world champion literally outclassed his rivals, taking home another victory also by making perfect use of the excellent starting position in the special stages of Friday.
Furthermore, the 23-year-old Finn from Toyota Gazoo Racing also benefited from Ott Tanak’s premature retirement. The Estonian, the big favorite of the weekend, was forced to retire already on SS2 after an accident with a deer. The animal crossed Tanak’s path a few moments before he reached that stretch and the impact was inevitable.
Elfyn Evans gave Toyota a one-two finish, moving up to second today after capitalising on a puncture to the right rear tyre of Andreas Mikkelsen’s Hyundai i20. The Norwegian made a mistake, damaging his own wheel when he hit a dirt bank on SS16, opening the door for the Welshman.
Adrien Fourmaux closes the podium with great merit. The Frenchman continues to give unexpected results to the M-Sport Ford team, once again showing his growth made last year and the confidence in his means acquired in 2024. For him and M-Sport, an excellent signal for the present and the future , because Adrien seemed like a second-best and low-cost choice – he probably was – but he is proving to be a driver who can fit in today’s WRC and can have his say even against top-level drivers.
The leader of the World Championship, Thierry Neuville, closes fourth overall, first among the Hyundai drivers but after a terrible weekend, difficult since Friday when he had to open all the tests and continued in an unsatisfactory way on Saturday. In the end he managed to maintain the lead of the World Championship, but in the next 2 appointments in Hyundai they will have to find something to help him, otherwise against these Toyotas there could be the real danger of having to give up the leadership at a delicate moment of the season.
Martins Sesks deserves applause, author of a fifth place overall in his debut rally at the wheel of a Rally1, even if it is not equipped with a hybrid propulsion. The Latvian showed excellent things between Friday and Saturday, taking the satisfaction of finishing ahead of Neuville by just one tenth at the end of the second stage. Today, then, he was unable to compete with the Belgian’s faster pace, but the fifth place finish is a dream come true for him. We hope to see him back in the car, perhaps on a hybrid Rally1, to understand if he is a driver to bet on for the future or if, instead, he could be useful to some team on dirt and fast routes like the Polish one.
Bitter disappointment for the aforementioned Mikkelsen, who finished sixth but with the regret of the mistake he made this morning, during SS16, when he was comfortably in second position. The Norwegian tried to put pressure on Rovanpera to make him make a mistake, but instead it was him who made the mistake, thus losing many positions and finishing sixth ahead of Gregoire Munster in the second Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid of M-Sport.
Bad weekend for Takamoto Katsuta. On a surface he knows very well he has never been in the game not only to fight for the podium, but also for the Top 5. An unexpected performance, which will have to be immediately canceled out with an excellent result in Latvia, a rally expected in a few weeks.
As for WRC2, Sami Pajari confirms himself as the driver in the best form at the moment, also triumphing in Poland in the category standings. The young Finn is getting closer to his debut on the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid, which will take place in Finland. In the meantime, the results obtained on the Yaris Rally2 are putting him on display as one of the most interesting drivers of the future.
Behind the Finn was Oliver Solberg, who did well to recover after a terrible Friday, well below expectations. Final insult for Nikolay Gryazin, who lost third place due to a puncture. Robert Virves took advantage of this, finishing on the podium, but who in turn had seen second position vanish again due to a puncture.
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