Kalle Rovanperä, Elfyn Evans and Andreas Mikkelsen are engaged in a titanic battle on the fast roads of Poland where average speeds easily exceed 120 km/h. At midday on Saturday, the Finn, a last-minute replacement for Sébastien Ogier, injured during a reconnaissance accident, got the better of his two competitors. But in one breath since he only has 4 tenths of a “margin” over his Toyota teammate Eflyn Evans, who seems to be regaining his level after a sluggish first part of the season.
Having started in the lead this morning, Andreas Mikkelsen lost two places to the Toyotas in the second special of the day but he remains in contact and in a position to take advantage of the smallest error of his rivals 2”7 behind Rovanperä.
Trouble with misplaced spectators
Behind, Adrien Fourmaux continues to perform at a high level on these roads which require constant confidence and commitment. The Ford M-Sport driver is still in fourth place (+15”9) and has given himself some breathing room against his pursuers. The Latvian Martins Sesks, lined up on a non-hybrid Rally1, still occupies fifth place (+ 30”7) and is currently holding up rather well to Championship leader Thierry Neuville (6th) who is 46”5 behind the head with his Hyundai. As for Grégoire Munster (Ford M-Sport), he continued his good effort from the day before (7th), finishing less than ten seconds behind Neuville. Katsuta, still in difficulty with his Yaris, is only 8th at 1’06.
Saturday afternoon, the three special stages on the morning program must be run again in the hope that the problems with poorly placed spectators (another special stage interrupted on Saturday morning) will finally be resolved for good. Because the fight at the top is of such intensity that it deserves to take place as fairly as possible until the end.
