The Belgian duo of Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul maintained their composure under the fiercest of pressure to emerge comfortable winners of an enthralling 74th Rally Poland on Sunday.
The lead of one of the most unpredictable ever rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship changed on 10 occasions during the 23 special stages, but the Hyundai Motorsport driver won nine of them to reach the finish 1min 23.8sec clear of New Zealand team-mate Hayden Paddon and his British co-driver Seb Marshall. It set up a best ever 1-2-4 finish for the Korean manufacturer, with Dani Sordo in fourth place and a first podium finish for co-driver Marshall in the WRC.
Neuville started the day just 3.1 seconds in front of M-Sport World Rally Team’s Ott Tanak. The Estonian produced a scintillating time through the treacherous opening stage to regain the outright lead for the fourth time this weekend, but the Ford Fiesta WRC driver was caught out on a slippery section under the trees in the second stage of the morning and spun the car into a banking. The impact sucked the nose into a tree and Tanak was fortunate to be able to finish the stage. With the Fiesta leaking vital engine fluids, it would go no further and the winner of the recent event in Sardinia was out of the running.
Neuville, who claimed his fifth ever WRC win and third this year, said: “I am really happy. Two events in a row we are closing the gap on Ogier. The last five races, every last metre of every stage has been tough. The end of the championship is going to be really interesting.”
Ironically Tanak’s demise helped defending World Champion and team-mate Sébastien Ogier on to the podium in third position. Ogier and Julien Ingrassia failed to win a single stage and a couple of punctureson Saturday cost them time. But the Frenchman retained a trimmed championship lead from a resurgent Neuville to take to the next rally in Finland.
“I was just happy to finish,” said Ogier. “It is not the best podium. We were missing a little performance and we were unlucky with the punctures. I guess the podium is better than we deserved. The season is going to be exciting.”
Finland’s Teemu Suninen revelled in his opportunity to drive a World Rally Car for the first time and the Ford Fiesta driver reached the finish in Mikolajki in sixth position after slipping behind a delighted Frenchman Sébastien Lefebvre -driving the first of the three Citroën C3 WRCs – after a delay on the final Power Stage.
Ford’s Mats Østberg and Elfyn Evans reached the finish in seventh and eighth overall and Andreas Mikkelsen won a late Power Stage tussle with Juha Hänninen to finish ninth for Citroën by just 10.2 seconds.
Toyota GAZOO Racing World Rally Team’s Jari-Matti Latvala held a top three position for long periods in his Toyota Yaris before missing out on a podium on Saturday afternoon. The Finn claimed five crucial bonus points for winning the Power Stage and won three other special stages during the weekend.
Ole Christian Veiby began the final day with a comfortable WRC 2 lead and the Norwegian took no risks on the closing stages. Swedish rival and series leader Pontus Tidemand was duly able to reduce the gap to just 32.9 seconds at the finish, but Veiby held on to claim the victory. Quentin Gilbert was third, as Frenchman Eric Camilli was not registered for WRC 2 points.
Nil Solans continued his remarkable run of form in WRC 3 to finish comfortably clear of Dennis Radström and Jakub Brzezinski after Terry Folb lost third place with a flat tyre on the penultimate stage.
74th Rally Poland – positions after SS23:
- Thierry Neuville (BEL)/Nicolas Gilsoul (BEL) Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC2hr 40min 46.1sec
- Hayden Paddon (NZL)/Sebastian Marshall (GBR) Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 2hr 42min 10.0sec
- Sébastien Ogier (FRA)/Julien Ingrassia (FRA) Ford Fiesta WRC2hr 43min 06.9sec
- Dani Sordo (ESP)/Marc Marti (ESP) Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC2hr 43min 33.5sec
- Stéphane Lefebvre (FRA)/Gabin Moreau (FRA) Citroën C3 WRC2hr 43min 57.9sec
- Teemu Suninen (FIN)/Mikko Markkula (FIN) Ford Fiesta WRC2hr 44min 02.9sec
- Mads Østberg (NOR)/Ola Floene (NOR) Ford Fiesta WRC 2hr 44min 25.7sec
- Elfyn Evans (GBR)/Daniel Barritt (GBR) Ford Fiesta WRC2hr 45min 25.2sec
- Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR)/Anders Jaeger (NOR) Citroën C3 WRC2hr 45min 29.6sec
- Juha Hänninen (FIN)/Kaj Lindström (FIN) Toyota Yaris WRC2hr 45min 39.8sec
