By alley - Jun 26, 2014, 12:58 PM ET

Ogier inches into the lead in Poland

Authors: jrigby

LOTOS RALLY POLAND(26-29 JUNE 2014)

RALLY NEWS

Sébastien Ogier has narrowly clinched the lead of Rally Poland this evening, the Frenchman just 2.8 seconds ahead of Volkswagen team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen after today’s short opening section. Third place is held by Kris Meeke with the crews closely bunched together at the head of the leaderboard.

LOTOS 71st Rally Poland got underway this afternoon with its ceremonial start in Mikołajki’s main square and the crews then headed directly to the first two stages before returning for the first of four runs around the 2.5 kilometre super special stage adjacent to the service park.

Behind the leading trio Juho Hänninen heads Hyundai’s assault, the Finn just eight-tenths of a second adrift of third place having set fastest time in the second stage. Mads Østberg is fifth with Thierry Neuville and Hayden Paddon sixth and seventh respectively in the other two factory i20 WRCs. Having set the pace at shakedown this morning, Jari-Matti Latvala has had a disappointing start to Rally Poland, an event that brings back heart-breaking memories from 2009 when he retired in the final stage, throwing away second position. He lost over 10 seconds in the opening 12.92 kilometre stage with a lack of confidence and then in the second stage struggled with the car’s handling under braking. Frustratingly, the Finn is already 23.5 seconds off the lead. Mikko Hirvonen is struggling in ninth with Martin Prokop 10th.

The most dramatic moments hit Rally Poland’s home grown talent; after an impressive fourth-fastest time in the first stage, Robert Kubica misjudged a jump and ended up rolling in a ditch. Remarkably the Pole lost less than 30 seconds and is 12th overnight. Multiple event winner and former FIA European Rally Champion Krzysztof Hołowczyc also went off the road but with less dramatic consequences. He is 16th overall after 34.28 kilometres of competition today.

Competition resumes on Friday morning but also takes the contenders into Lithuania, which hosts four of the day’s seven stages.

LOTOS Rally Poland – Unofficial Results after Section 1

1. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia 2. Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene 3. Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle 4. Juho Hänninen/Tomi Tuominen 5. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson 6. Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul 7. Hayden Paddon/John Kennard 8. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila 9. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen 10. Martin Prokop/Jan Tomanek

Volkswagen Polo R WRC Volkswagen Polo R WRC Citroën DS3 WRC Hyundai i20 WRC Citroën DS3 WRC Hyundai i20 WRC Hyundai i20 WRC Volkswagen Polo R WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC

17min 49.2sec 17min 52.0sec 17min 56.2sec 17min 57.0sec 17min 58.1sec 18min 10.3sec 18min 12.4sec 18min 12.7sec 18min 18.6sec 18min 20.2sec

Language

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Category : WRC