Seven stages and 124km awaited the crews on the second full day of rallying. The first stage was red-flagged once again as a result of badly behaved spectators but got underway after a 15 minute break.
Fourmaux stormed through the stage with the fastest time until Rovanpera got the bit between his teeth, pipping the Frenchman by 3.5 seconds and Evans by 0.9 seconds and crucially, Mikkelsen by 1.3 seconds, leaving the Norwegian in the lead by a scant half a second.
Evans remained in third 1.1 seconds off the lead with Fourmaux in fourth starting to build a cushion over Sesks. Neuville in seventh was pressuring Munster while Katsuta remained mired in eighth.
Tanak was back in action and set the fifth fastest stage time but was ranked 14th overall.
Stage ten was crucial – Mikkelsen dropped 5.1 seconds to Rovanpera and dropped to third overall behind Evans who shadowed the double champion’s every move.
Neuville – who started the day with a target of reaching fifth overall – passed Munster for sixth before the final stage of the morning loop.
Stage 11 was also delayed due to spectator control. Controlling spectators was an issue the last time the WRC visited Poland back in 2017 which resulted in the event dropping off the calendar. Poland’s return to the calendar this year is a one-off and given the stage cancellations and delays, it’s unlikely to be included going forward.
Once it got underway, the three-way fight for the lead intensified yet again. Rovanpera, not happy with his pace but doing an astounding job given his lack of preparation, was only third fastest but held on to the lead by one tenth from teammate Evans. Mikkelsen won the stage making it only 2.2 seconds between the top three.
Fourmaux was still in scintillating form, holding fourth adding another handful of seconds over Sesks. Neuville only shaved 0.1 seconds to Sesks in his quest to take fifth.
18.7km into the stage Kajetan Kajetanowicz reared onto two wheels and ran wide, collecting a couple of very large rocks which wrecked his Skoda’s front left suspension.
Pajari had a comfortable half a minute lead in WRC2 over Robert Virves in a Skoda.
Nothing changed during the SuperSpecial stage run before service although Tanak called it a day, unhappy with his engine and with no Saturday points available elected to head back to service to refresh his i20 N ahead of Super Sunday.
Unlucky stage 13 was next – unlucky for Evans who suffered a delaminated tyre and lost 8.9 seconds to his super-sub teammate and dropped to third overall behind Mikkelsen, 6.5 seconds adrift of the Norwegian.
In WRC2, Oliver Solberg, who was hopelessly frustrated with his Skoda on day one, seventh and 33 seconds off Pajari’s time, was flying, and closed to 2.5 seconds off Virves.
The second last stage of the day saw Rovanpera open his lead to 5.2 seconds while Evans had to do damage control, having used up his sole spare tyre. Evans was 13.3 seconds off the lead and 8.1 behind his Hyundai rival.
Fourmaux was safe(ish) in fourth, some 20 seconds ahead of Sesks who was under huge pressure from Neuville, lurking 2.4 seconds back, while Solberg edged closer to Virves in WRC2.
The final stage of the day saw Neuville throw everything at the stage which led to a small mistake which the Belgian reckons cost him a second. That second, though, was important, for Sesks also gave his all and retained fifth overall by 0.1 second!
Rovanpera flew through the final stage 6.5 seconds quicker than all comers after a phenomenal performance. Evans pipped Mikkelsen but had to settle for third place Saturday points. Fourmaux took fourth from Sesks, Neuville, Munster and Katsuta.
Sami Pajari was in total control in WRC2 but Solberg, who’d driven his car on its door mirrors all day, was up into second, 26 seconds adrift of the flying Toyota pair.
