The Finn, who expected to be beaten by the drivers who chose hard tires for this afternoon loop, put everyone in agreement in 9’25″2, 2″2 ahead of Thierry Neuville, and 2″4 ahead of Mikkelsen. The reigning world champion, however, felt his soft tires wear out as the special progressed, which does not give him the greatest hopes for the last special of the day, at 6:05 p.m. this evening: “I can’t push any harder, I gave my all. The driving is good, we extract what we can from the car. My choice of tyres was a mistake for the afternoon, the drivers with hard tyres in addition could be faster. I felt that the softs were starting to let go, and we could have gone faster with hard tyres.”
Mikkelsen has taken three hard tyres in his allocation, so we will see on the 15th special if he can recover a few seconds on Rovanperä! The gap between the two men is now 5″2 while Elfyn Evans is 13″3 from the leader of the race. Fourmaux is still fourth, while Thierry Neuville has made up most of his gap on Martins Sesks for fifth position. The championship leader is now only 2″4 ahead of the last special of the day, which could prove crucial to obtain a better running order on Sunday.
Poland – SS14 – Ranking
Poland – General after SS14
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