Tänak has not been significantly affected by his difficult starting position and set the fastest time in the second special stage of the morning.
Tänak was 0.7 seconds faster than Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux on the nearly 11-kilometre-long Mikołajki special stage and beat Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä, who set the fourth fastest time, by 2.1 seconds.
In the overall standings, Rovanperä still held the lead and increased his gap to teammate Elfyn Evans to 18.1 seconds. However, Rovanperä was far from satisfied.
“This was quite a disaster! We drove very slowly because the notes weren’t good. We need to try to improve”, Rovanperä stated bluntly.
Tänak, on the other hand, complained about the chicanes along the route but was quite happy with his time. And he had every reason to be.
“The previous stage went well, and I was a bit surprised by my time. This stage also went quite well”, Tänak summarised.
Tänak had to retire from the rally on the first stage on Friday after hitting a deer and also withdrew on Saturday. The Estonian’s sole focus was on Super Sunday points, and in this regard, he has done an excellent job all morning. Tänak now leads Super Sunday by 3.3 seconds over Rovanperä.
Regarding Sunday, Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux is in third place, 5.1 seconds behind the Estonian. Fourmaux is also holding third place in the overall rally standings. Championship leader Thierry Neuville has climbed to fourth place overall, while teammate Andreas Mikkelsen has opted to play it safe. For Super Sunday, Neuville is in fifth place.
Two more special stages are to be driven on Sunday at Rally Poland.
Rally Poland standings after SS17/19:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | 2:17:07.8 |
| 2. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +18.1 |
| 3. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | +38.8 |
| 4. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +1:08.4 |
| 5. | Andreas Mikkelsen | Hyundai | +1:21.6 |
| 6. | Martins Sesks | Ford | +1:23.4 |
| 7. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +1:56.6 |
| 8. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +2:10.0 |
| 9. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +6:38.7 |
| 10. | Robert Virves | Skoda | +7:03.1 |
Super Sunday standings:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | 16:20.5 |
| 2. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | +3.3 |
| 3. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | +5.1 |
| 4. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +5.3 |
| 5. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +13.4 |
| 6. | Martins Sesks | Ford | +28.5 |
| 7. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +31.4 |
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
