Rovanperä topped the 19.9-kilometre-long Goldap stage with a lead of 2.2 seconds over Thierry Neuville of Hyundai. Overall, Rovanperä extended his lead to 5.2 seconds ahead of Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen.
However, the Finnish star expressed concerns about the durability of his soft tyre compound until the end of the loop.
“We can’t push more, it’s absolutely quite maximum what we can do in this condition. The driving is good, we are extracting what we can from the car. Definitely the tyre choice was a bad decision, the guys behind might be faster. I feel that the softs are giving up already, definitely the hards would’ve been faster,” Rovanperä said.
“Rovanperä did well. We had a good stage, a couple of corners we could’ve gone faster. It’s a big step up from the first pass, but there’s so many corners where it is really hard to know if it is flat out or not. I am missing that experience to know how to take them, but hats off to Kalle, he did a good job,” Mikkelsen remarked.
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans continues in third place in the rally. The Welshman suffered a puncture on the previous stage and now needs to drive cautiously. He trails the leader by 13.3 seconds.
“No warning, the tyre just went,” Evans commented.
In fourth place overall is M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux, 28.5 seconds behind the leader. Second Ford driver Martins Sesks maintains fifth place, but Neuville is now only 2.4 seconds behind.
Seventh in the rally is M-Sport Ford’s Gregoire Munster ahead of Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta by 12.2 seconds.
Sami Pajari continues to lead the WRC2 class. Pajari, who is ninth overall, has a 31.6-second advantage over Estonian Robert Virves.
There is one more special stage to go on Saturday at the Rally Poland. The competition concludes on Sunday.
Rally Poland standings after SS14/19:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | 1:50:01.0 |
| 2. | Andreas Mikkelsen | Hyundai | +5.2 |
| 3. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +13.3 |
| 4. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | +28.5 |
| 5. | Martin Sesks | Ford | +49.4 |
| 6. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +51.8 |
| 7. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +1:16.1 |
| 8. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +1:28.3 |
| 9. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +5:06.2 |
| 10. | Robert Virves | Skoda | +5:37.8 |
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
