Before the rally, Hyundai’s Ott Tänak was tipped as the favourite to win, but Tänak suffered a major setback on Friday morning when he collided with a deer.
Tänak had to retire and eventually also left Saturday’s stage. However, on Sunday, the Estonian was in magical form and claimed victory of Super Sunday.
“It is very difficult to summarise such a weekend, as the only positive thing in the end was the astonishing speed shown by Ott and Martin (Järveoja) when they tried to take maximum points from the super Sunday,” said Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul.
Tänak’s pace was undeniably impressive. The Estonian had to go first on the road, but consistently set the fastest times on the final day. Abiteboul had high praise when discussing Sunday.
“Their Sunday morning can well go down in the history of rallying,” Abiteboul enthused.
Tänak demonstrated his speed on Sunday. This naturally caused mixed feelings in the Korean manufacturer’s camp; the maximum points were welcome, but there was an awkward question of what Tänak could have achieved in Poland with better luck.
“One can only imagine if things had gone differently for them on Friday,” Abiteboul lamented.
Next, the WRC continues with two very similar rallies to what was seen in Poland. Latvia and Finland will offer the challenges of fast gravel rallies, similar to Poland.
“We all certainly hope that we can strike back in the upcoming similar rallies,” Abiteboul hoped.
In addition to Tänak’s Sunday performance, there was also joy in the Hyundai camp from Andreas Mikkelsen. The Norwegian, who has had a lacklustre season, drove his clearly best race of the season. However, bad luck also robbed him of a top result.
“Andreas was already delivering exactly what we need from our third car, until one slightly rougher landing ruined his chances.”
Thierry Neuville finished fourth overall in the rally and fifth in the Super Sunday. The team boss did not criticise the Belgian too much.
“Thierry did what he could in this rally, which we knew would be very challenging, and he still leads the drivers’ championship,” Abiteboul reminded.
