Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia secured their fifth win of the
season at Rally Poland, the 29th of their careers. However they were pushed all
the way to the finish at the fastest rally of the WRC year so far to fend off Volkswagen
Polo team-mates Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene and eventually win by just
11.9 seconds.
After a furious battle with M-Sport's Ott Tanak for third place, Jari-Matti
Latvala ended up fifth following a last-minute mistake.
At the finish Sébastien Ogier said: “A fantastic Rally Poland! I am absolutely delighted and happy to have repeated last year’s win here. The many fans and sensationally fast stages made this rally a fantastic event. The Polo worked perfectly. A big thank you to my team for that. Apart from the high temperatures, I had loads of fun in the cockpit. The win is also a huge step towards the World Championship title. We may now have a comfortable lead after the first half of the season, but there are still six rallies to come.”
At the finish Sébastien Ogier said: “A fantastic Rally Poland! I am absolutely delighted and happy to have repeated last year’s win here. The many fans and sensationally fast stages made this rally a fantastic event. The Polo worked perfectly. A big thank you to my team for that. Apart from the high temperatures, I had loads of fun in the cockpit. The win is also a huge step towards the World Championship title. We may now have a comfortable lead after the first half of the season, but there are still six rallies to come.”
Andreas
Mikkelsen added: “That was by far the best WRC rally of my
career. I like the characteristics and high-speed rallies like the one here in
Poland. I came close to bagging a first win, and it ultimately just came down
to a few minor details. I am incredibly proud of our performance here in
Poland. Sure, we came close in Sweden too, but that was our home rally. Second
place in Poland is far from a poor result for us, and worth its weight in gold
in the World Championship. We have regained second place in the Drivers’ and
Co-Driver Championship.”
Jari-Matti Latvala said: “I pushed to the absolute maximum as I tried desperately to make it onto the podium. Unfortunately it was not to be. The crash on the Power Stage meant I dropped back into fifth place. Fortunately the Polo is a sturdy car and our mechanics kept us in the race. Without their efforts, we would not have made it to the finish.”
