Meanwhile, a fantastic battle for victory is going on between Toyota drivers Kalli Rovanper and Elfin Evans, as well as Hyundai driver Andreas Mikkelsen.
After a great second day of racing, M-Sport Ford drivers Cesk/Francis started fifth in their non-hybrid Ford Puma Rally1, just 0.2 seconds behind teammate Adrien Furmeaux and 7.7 seconds behind leader Mikkelsen.
Saturday started with the 18.5 kilometer long “Świętajno” stage. Even today, the trouble with the spectators continued, due to their actions, only three cars made the trips before the competition had to be stopped. The situation was resolved and half an hour later the rally could resume.
Seska’s crew posted the seventh best time, 9.4 seconds behind winner Rowanper, but just 0.2 seconds behind world championship leader Thierry Neuville. In the overall standings, our team kept the fifth place and at that time were 15.8 seconds behind the leading Mikkelsen.
The start of the 19.9 kilometer long “Gołdap” was therefore delayed due to spectators standing in the wrong places. This time too, Cesks/Francis were the seventh fastest, once again leaving behind a couple of other “Rally1” crews, who start with machines equipped with a hybrid system.
Summary of Friday in one breath. 😆🫠#Ferret #Francis #FIAWRC #MSport #RallyPoland#LatvijasMobilaisTelefons #11lv #StorentLatvia #OtankiMill #Heathers #Terrabalt #Michael #LaumaFabrics #Feline #Evie #Top #RedbullLatvia pic.twitter.com/j87zKPEbQ5
— Mārtiņš Sesks (@MSesks) June 29, 2024
Once again, the fastest was Rovanpera, to whom the Latvian crew lost 8.5 seconds. Rovanpera now took over the overall lead, with his team-mate Evans moving up to second, while Mikkelsen lost first place and dropped to third. Meanwhile, the crew piloted by Seska was still in fifth place.
The 11th speed stage of the competition was the 22.4 kilometer long “Czarne” – one of the most interesting in this rally.
The pilots also had to drive at high speed on narrow forest roads. Cesk once again posted the seventh result, while Mikkelsen responded with the fastest time in response to the performance of the Toyota drivers in the previous laps.
Ours lost to him by 7.8 seconds, again beating Gregoire Munster, who is also behind in the overall standings, but losing only 0.1 second to Neuville, who still has not been able to get ahead of the Latvians.
Therefore, our athletes were still fifth in the overall standings, quite convincingly ahead of the Neuville crew and 29 seconds behind the leader. In the battle for victory, Evans was able to close to 0.1 seconds behind Rovanper, while Mikkelsen was only 2.2 seconds behind after this stage.
The morning battles ended with a show in the 2.5 kilometer long “Mikołajki Arena” super special speed stage.
Sesks/Francis showed the ninth result, but lost only one and a half seconds to the winner Rovanper. Therefore, before the three stages expected in the afternoon, the “M-Sport Ford” crew is in a stable fifth position, 30 seconds behind the leader Rowanper, 14 seconds behind Furmo and 15 seconds ahead of Neuville.
In the fight for the victory, fantastically intense battles – Rovanpera is only 0.4 seconds ahead of Evans, while Mikkelsen is 2.7 seconds behind the leader.
2024-06-29 13:22:35
#Seskas #crew #maintains #place #midway #day #WRC #Rally #Poland
