SS11-12: Tänak back in front

Ott Tänak moved back into the lead of Orlen 74th Rally Poland on Saturday morning despite plunging off the road and into a field.

It was a dramatic opening to the second leg for the Estonian, who dropped back from overnight leader Thierry Neuville in the opening Baranowo speed test after feeling his Ford Fiesta’s set-up was too soft for the rapidly drying roads.

He bounced back in the following Pozezdrze to win the stage by 3.0sec from Hayden Paddon. More importantly for Tänak, he was 6.1sec quicker than Neuville’s Hyundai i20 to relegate the Belgian to second by 3.5sec.

But Tänak was breathing a sigh of relief. “Very slippery and we went off into a field. We were very lucky,” he said. He spent several minutes at the end of the stage clearing grass and earth from the air intakes at the front of the Fiesta.

Neuville clipped a small rock in Baranowo but had a 3.7sec advantage over Jari-Matti’s Toyota Yaris in third overall. The Finn pipped Neuville by 0.8sec to win the opener.

There was more drama further down the order as Sébastien Ogier dropped to fifth after swiping a road sign in the first corner of Pozezdrze. The Frenchman dropped 30sec and his Fiesta looked somewhat battered as he pulled up at the finish.

His rear left wheel was broken, the tyre was shredded, the front bumper was missing and the splitter was dragging. Ogier did not elaborate on what happened but replaced the wheel before heading off to the next stage.

The time loss demoted him to fifth behind Paddon and only 1.0sec ahead of Dani Sordo.

Elsewhere, Andreas Mikkelsen lost time in his Citroën C3 after going off the road and into a field. The Norwegian remains 12th.