Hyundai’s Ott Tänak started the World Rally Championship in Poland the fastest on Thursday evening. Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä, who was invited to the Poland rally with an emergency alert, was the seventh fastest on the opening stretch
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak started the World Rally Championship in Poland with a bang. The Estonian driver defeated his teammate in a short 2.5 kilometer opening special stage by Thierry Neuville one second apart and Toyota’s by Elfyn Evans 1.3 seconds apart.
Toyota invited to the rally in Poland with an emergency alert Kalle Rovanperä was seventh fastest on the opening stretch, the difference to Tänak was 2.1 seconds. Rovanperä replaces in the rally Sebastien Ogier’swho was injured on Tuesday during the notation of the competition.
Two-time world champion Rovanperä was not able to prepare for the rally in nearly the same way as his competition partner.
– I don’t think that winning the competition is possible, but that’s just the way it is. We came here to get a good result, but it’s no good if we don’t try to win. We have a long night ahead of us, so the race won’t be easy, Rovanperä referred to the sheet music work of the coming night in the World Series interview.
Driving in the WRC2 class Sami Pajari was 14th in the opening special exam and Lauri Joona 18th century The situation of the rally (teletext) here
The Polish rally is on the World Series program for the first time since 2017. The competition continues on Friday with seven special stages.
Urheilu follows the WC rally here