The BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team crew of Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen won Rally Poland, the eighth round of the FIA World Rally Championship. In doing so, the Finns have put themselves firmly back in contention in the Drivers’ Championship, overhauling Sébastien Loeb for the first time this season. Team-mates Jarmo Lehtinen and Miikka Anttila were set to make it a one-two for Ford, but the Finns crashed in the final 2.5 kilometre super special stage, handing second position to Dani Sordo and Marc Marti. As a consequence, Henning Solberg and Cato Menkerud moved up to claim the final podium position.
In the FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers, Hirvonen takes a one point lead over Loeb, who has suffered uncharacteristic accidents in the last two events. Sordo remains third. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Citroën Total still heads BP Ford.
Today’s route took the crews over two loops of two stages before returning to Mikołajki for the final super special stage. Sordo was ready to attack this morning, but the Spaniard overshot a corner and lost 20 seconds in the first stage. After this, the deficit was too great to overcome and the leading Finns were able to ease the pace. However, in the final super special stage, Jari-Matti Latvala crushed all hopes of an emphatic Ford one-two in a dramatic accident in front of his own team and thousands of spectators.
Sébastien Ogier was forced out with a suspected engine problem and Sébastien Loeb finally finished in the points, in seventh, after dropping to 32nd overall on Friday.
The FIA World Rally Championship now heads to Jyväskylä for Neste Oil Rally Finland (30 July-02 August).
Overall results
1. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 3 hr 07 min 27.5sec
2. Dani Sordo/Marc Marti Citroën C4 WRC 3 hr 08 min 37.8sec
3. Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud Ford Focus RS WRC 3 hr 09 min 33.2sec
4. Petter Solberg/Phil Mills Citroën Xsara WRC 3 hr 10 min 01.8sec
5. Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin Ford Focus RS WRC 3 hr 11 min 45.0sec
6. Krzysztof Holowczyc/Lukasz Kurzeja Ford Focus RS WRC 3 hr 12 min 01.4sec
7. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 3 hr 26 min 42.6sec
8. Conrad Rautenbach/Daniel Barritt Citroën C4 WRC 3 hr 26 min 48.1sec
Drivers Championship points
Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) 58 points
Sébastien Loeb (F) 57 points
Dani Sordo (E) 39 points
Henning Solberg (N) 27 points
Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) 25 points
Petter Solberg (N)25 points
Matthew Wilson (GB)19 points
Federico Villagra (RA) 14 points
Sébastien Ogier (F) 13 points
Conrad Rautenbach (ZW)8 points
Mads Østberg (N) 7 points
Khalid Al Qassimi (UAE) 6 points
Evgeny Novikov (RUS) 4 points
Chris Atkinson (AUS) 4 points
Krzysztof Holowczyc (PL) 3 points
Urmo Aava (EE) 1 point
Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) 1 point
Lambros Athanassoulas (GR) 1 point
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 8 of 12 rounds)
Citroën Total World Rally Team 106 points
BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 89 points
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team 60 points
Citroën Junior Team 29 points
Munchi’s Ford World Rally Team 18 points
