Neuville in fight with Tänak and Latvala in Poland

Les conditions de piste ce vendredi en Pologne n’ont pas facilité la tâche des pilotes engagés sur la huitième manche du Championnat du Monde des Rallyes 2017. Au terme de la matinée, Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) avait pris les commandes de la course face à Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), but the Belgian driver came out better on the second pass in the afternoon, having missed SS6, the Polish spectators not being sufficiently safe according to the race direction.

Still leader after SS7, won by Teemu Suninen (Ford), author of his first scratch in the category, Latvala initially left Ott Tänak (Ford) prendre la tête du classement après l’ES8, dominée par Neuville, avant que le Belge ne prenne l’avantage dans l’ES9 en devançant de 3″2 l’Estonien de M-Sport.

At the end of the Mikolajki super-special, Neuville is at the forefront of the event with a 1″3 margin over Tänak, while Latvala, who admitted not having found the rhythm in the second passage, completes the trifecta of head 6″6 from the leader.

Ogier tries to resist, Suninen asserts himself

Positioned as opener this Friday, Sébastien Ogier (Ford) conceded time in the second passage of the afternoon, the stagnant water in the ruts not making the Frenchman's task easier. The world champion is fourth this evening, 35″1 behind Neuville.

Hayden Paddon (Hyundai) maintains fifth place, 4″5 behind Sébastien Ogier, and ahead of his teammate Dani Sordo. Teemu Suninen (Ford) and Juho Hänninen (Toyota) follow in the standings ahead of Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën) and Mads Ostberg (Ford) who complete the top 10.

Elfyn Evans (Ford), winner of the super-special, ranks 11th, more than 2′ ahead of the Citroën C3 of Andreas Mikkelsen, who emphasized being more confident after his gap in the morning and a brush with a stump.

En WRC Trophy, Valeriy Gorban (Mini) is comfortably installed at the head of the category, with 5'55" ahead of Jean-Michel Raoux (DS3 WRC). In WRC-2, Ole Christian Veiby (Skoda Fabia R5) still dominates Pontus Tidemand (Skoda Fabia R5), 5″1 separating the two drivers. Quentin Gilbert (Skoda Fabia R5) remains 3rd in WRC-2, and is beaten overall by his compatriots Pierre-Louis Loubet (Ford Fiesta R5) and Eric Camilli (Ford Fiesta R5). Nils Solans leads the Junior WRC.

The first special of Saturday's stage will begin tomorrow at 8:08 a.m. and will be followed, like the entire day, live with our live text.

Ranking Rally Poland