Rovanperä wasn’t even supposed to compete in Poland, but the world champion received an urgent call to Poland on Tuesday. Toyota’s other part-time driver, Sébastien Ogier, was involved in a head-on collision during reconnaissance on Tuesday morning, forcing the Frenchman to withdraw from the race. Consequently, Toyota flew Rovanperä and his co-driver Jonne Halttunen to Poland in the middle of their holiday.
Before the competition, it was speculated that Rovanperä had no realistic chances of winning in Poland. Rovanperä himself shared this sentiment.
But what happened? Without proper preparation and testing, Rovanperä started the race and took the lead on Saturday, never relinquishing the top spot. In the end, the Toyota driver secured the victory with a 28.3-second margin over his teammate Elfyn Evans.
Rovanperä was invaluable to Toyota. He earned the highest conditional points (18) on Saturday, finished second in the Super Sunday results (6), and collected three points from the Power Stage. In total, he gathered 27 points for his team in the manufacturers’ championship battle against Hyundai.
M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux finished third in the competition, ahead of championship leader Thierry Neuville. Debuting in the main class with an M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 car, Martins Sesks impressively finished fifth, ahead of Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen, M-Sport Ford’s Gregoire Munster, and Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta.
Mikkelsen was second in the competition at the end of Saturday, bringing valuable points for Hyundai. On Sunday morning, Mikkelsen suffered a puncture, after which he drove cautiously through the stages, ultimately finishing sixth.
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak was forced to retire immediately on Friday morning after colliding with a deer. Tänak drove through the Saturday morning loop but skipped the afternoon stages to focus on collecting points on Super Sunday.
Tänak had a strong attack on the final day, ultimately collecting 11 points on Sunday. Tänak was the fastest driver of the day and also set the second-fastest time on the final Power Stage. Neuville was the fastest on the Power Stage.
Sami Pajari won the WRC2 category in Poland. The Finn controlled the race beautifully, taking his second consecutive victory by a margin of 22 seconds over Oliver Solberg.
The WRC season continues in mid-July in Latvia.
Rally Poland Results after SS19/19:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | 2:33:07.6 |
| 2. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +28.3 |
| 3. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | +42.7 |
| 4. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +1:10.8 |
| 5. | Martins Sesks | Ford | +1:47.0 |
| 6. | Andreas Mikkelsen | Hyundai | +2:16.6 |
| 7. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +2:18.0 |
| 8. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +2:26.7 |
| 9. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +7:50.7 |
| 10. | Oliver Solberg | Skoda | +8:12.7 |
Super Sunday Results:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | 32:19.1 |
| 2. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | +4.5 |
| 3. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | +10.2 |
| 4. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +16.7 |
| 5. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +17.0 |
| 6. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +49.3 |
| 7. | Martins Sesks | Ford | +53.3 |
Rally Poland Itinerary (CET):
Thursday 27.6. 10:01 Shakedown: Lubiewo (5.10 km) 19:05 SS1: Mikołajki Arena 1 (2.50 km) Friday 28.6. 08:45 SS2: Stańczyki 1 (29.40 km) 10:20 SS3: Wieliczki 1 (12.90 km) *CANCELLED 11:10 SS4: Olecko 1 (13.20 km) 14:05 SS5: Stańczyki 2 (29.40 km) 15:40 SS6: Wieliczki 2 (12.90 km) 16:30 SS7: Olecko 2 (13.20 km) 19:00 SS8: Mikołajki Arena 2 (2.50 km) Saturday 29.6. 08:30 SS9: Świętajno 1 (18.50 km) 09:45 SS10: Gołdap 1 (19.90 km) 10:35 SS11: Czarne 1 (22.40 km) 13:25 SS12: Mikołajki Arena 3 (2.50 km) 16:00 SS13: Świętajno 2 (18.50 km) 17:15 SS14: Gołdap 2 (19.90 km) 18:05 SS15: Czarne 2 (22.40 km) Sunday 30.6. 09:00 SS16: Gmina Mrągowo 1 (20.80 km) 10:05 SS17: Mikołajki 1 (10.73 km) 12:20 SS18: Gmina Mrągowo 2 (20.80 km) 14:15 SS19: Mikołajki 2 (10.73 km) *Power Stage
