71 entries for Rally Poland

The entry list for the upcoming LOTOS 71st Rally Poland (26-29 June) has been published and it shows 71 crews will tackle the gravel event.

The WRC is poised to return to Poland for the first time since 2009 and 15 WR Cars have entered the event. Sebastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen will represent VW Motorsport, while Citroen will run a brace of DS3s for Mads Ostberg and Kris Meeke.

Hyundai Motorsport will field three i20 WRCs for Thierry Neuville, Juho Hanninen and Hayden Paddon, while the M-Sport World Rally Team will prepare Fiestas for Mikko Hirvonen, Elfyn Evans and local hero Robert Kubica.

The other WR Car runners will be Henning Solberg, Martin Prokop, Michal Solowow and Krzysztof Hołowczyc – all in Ford Fiesta RS WRCs.

The 24-stage event is also a qualifying round of the WRC2 and JWRC series, as well as the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy.

Seventeen cars will line up in the WRC2 category with Ott Takak, Jari Ketomaa and reigning WRC3 champion Sebastien Chardonnet expected to be among the pacesetters.

All 12 drivers that registered for the JWRC series will be present in Poland. Sebastien Lefebvre, the winner last time out in Portugal, will be hoping for another strong performance. The Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy field will consist of 12 crews, including Sander Parn who won at Rally Portugal.

The route for Rally Poland, which briefly crosses into neighbouring Lithuania, will be completely new for many of the drivers. Only a handful of drivers have previous experience at the event, including Mikko Hivonen – the winner in 2009, Jari-Matti Latvala and Henning Solberg have previous experience at the event.