Rally Poland: Martins Sesks unchallenged during the first stage

Held in the Masurian Lake District north of Warsaw, the first stage was 104,80 km long and was divided into 8 timed special stages. The hostilities kicked off on Friday evening with the traditional Mikolajki superspecial (2,5 km). Excited in front of his home crowd, Mikolaj Marczyk (Fabia RS) narrowly edged Andrea Mabellini (Fabia RS, 0 seconds behind) and Martins Sesks (Fabia RS, 1 seconds behind), already in good form for his return to ERC.

On Saturday, on special stages that were still as fast and selective as ever, the 25-year-old Latvian knew how to take advantage of his 18^e place in the starting order. Racing on a swept road, he won the first stage and took the lead. In the following stage, an exit had the only consequence of allowing his rivals to close in. After this little reminder, Sesks proved irreproachable throughout the rest of the day. He set the best times to finish the stage with a 21" margin over Roope Korhonen (Yaris). With such a lead, the driver M-Sport en WRC will be able to manage the situation on Sunday.

Unable to compete with Sesks for victory, the Finn showed solid form to secure his 2^e place. The leader's mistake on SS3 allowed him to gain a time, but he then saw his opponent slip away irretrievably. Korhonen was keeping an eye on the other title contenders, especially Andrea Mabellini. Uncomfortable in the deep ruts of the 2^e passage, the Italian was not really a threat. It was closer with Marczyk. The Pole tried to take advantage of his experience in the rails of the 2^e tower, but Korhonen managed to respond to him to keep a few seconds (12) and the 5^e instead.

In the top 5, Jon Armstrong and Isak Reiersen played a nice match to win the 4^e rank. The Englishman ended up getting the better of the Swede by 6 seconds. They were ahead of Mads Ostberg. Still working with a new co-driver (the Italian Giovanni Bernacchini), the Norwegian never managed to get involved in the fight at the front, particularly due to power issues during the afternoon.

Author of a good qualification (2^e) and a decent time in SS1 (9^e), Stéphane Lefebvre was unable to determine whether or not he had maintained his speed on the Polish roads. A wheel problem in SS2 put an end to his day.

While Sunday's special stages have a reputation for being very difficult, the stage will be 84,80 km long, with 6 SS stages to be contested.

Ranking at the end of the first stage