At the Rally of Poland, the 7th round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), Sebastian Ogeir once again came out victorious holding off his Volkswagen Motorsport team mate Andreas Mikkelsen who finished 2nd.
Ogier held on to the lead by just 11.9 seconds ahead of Mikkelsen. The 3rd Volkswagen Polo R of Jari Matti Latvala crashed out in the final speed test giving way to Ott Tänak to equal his career best finishing on the final spot of the podium.
After the opening leg, Ogier and Mikkelsen were a mere 2.1 seconds apart. Ogier gradually went on to stretch his lead to about 5.6 seconds and claimed bonus points by winning the final Power Stage.
“This year I’ve had many great wins, but this one is very special,” said Ogier. “For 90 per cent of the rally I opened the road so this is amazing. I had to push from the first metre to the last. I have a small break now and this is the perfect start to my holiday.”
Tänak gave Latvala a fight for his money for3rd place. At the final stage, both drivers were only separated by a mere 1.1 seconds, Latvala misjudged his move and hit a tree with just a few kilometers left to go. The impact left his radiator broken but the Finn was determined to finish trying to frantically repair his car. A 40 second penalty was awarded to Latvala when he checked in late and it dropped him down to 5th place.
Tänak capitalized on Latvala’s mistake in his Ford Fiesta RS to claim some extra points in the championship with his 3rd place finish.
The beneficiary was Hayden Paddon, who followed his stellar performance in Italy last month with another great drive to finish fourth in a Hyundai i20. He headed Latvala by 10.1sec with team-mate Thierry Neuville completing the top six 19.8sec further back.
The WRC Neste Oil Rally Finland which is based in Jyväskylä will take place from July 30 – August 2 for the 8th round of the championship.
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