WRC – Ogier and Mikkelsen fight for the lead in Poland

Sébastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen fight by tenths for the lead of the Rally from Poland. At midday of the second stage, the majority of which is contested in Lithuania, the reigning world champion is in control with a 1" lead over the Norwegian who once again climbed to first place this morning . The two Volkswagen drivers took advantage of the muddy roads of the last stage to increase their lead against Mads Ostberg who replaced his teammate Kris Meeke who lost time on the last stage and who fell to fifth place by more than half -minute from the head of the race.

The mud encountered in the Margionys special (SS6 with 17,97km) clearly favored the first drivers since Jari-Matti Latvala moved up to fourth place, 29 seconds behind the Frenchman. The Finns are at the forefront since Juho Hänninen is only two seconds behind Kris Meeke while Mikko Hirvonen is back in seventh position. The pilot M-Sport notably benefited from the poor performance of Hyundai in the mud since Thierry Neuville is now only eighth with two seconds behind the Scandinavian while Hayden Paddon has completely left the top ten now completed by Robert Kubica and Elfyn Evans.

In WRC2, Ott Tänak retains the lead five seconds ahead of Jari Ketomaa while Gorvan completes the provisional podium. The gaps are tight in the category and Sébastien Chardonnet occupies provisional seventh place, less than half a minute from the top three.

The first two stages of the second pass were canceled due to the large number of spectators and the high degradation of the roads. The crews will only resume competition from 19:15 p.m. for the 12,89km Wieliczki and for the super special which will end the day from 22 p.m. Videos of the event can be viewed on this link.