Veteran Swedish rally driver, Mats Jonsson, led the four day historic car Midnight Sunlight Rally in a Mazda 323 4WD from start to finish.
Mats Jonsson won the Midnight Sunlight Rally in a Mazda 323.
There were 200 crews. Second was Martin Hagman in a Ford Escort, and third was Daniel Wallin a Volvo 240.
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Citroen Racing state that Craig Breen is to compete in Rallye Deutschland and that Stephane Lefebvre, their highest placed driver in Poland, will not drive there. Andreas Mikkelsen and Kris Meeke will make up their team in Germany. In Finland the line-up will be Meeke, Al Qassimi and Breen.
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Citroen World Rally Cars scored the top four places on the French gravel championship Terre de Langres.
Winner was Julien Maurin (DS3), in front of Jean-Marie Cuoq (C4), Thibault Durbec (DS3) and Cyrille Feraud (C4). Jordan Berfa’s Hyundai R5 was fifth.
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Citroen Racing Team Director, Yves Matton, spoke before Rajd Polski about current philosophies in his team.
He said: “Everybody in the team (is looking forward to Kris being in the team) for the rest of the season. I don’t doubt that Kris is still able to win rallies and (especially) Finland. We wish that Kris will again be in a position to be in a positive mood. For us he is part of the team now and he will help us at all the test sessions”.
About corporate pressures he added, “The brand ask us not (so much) to win any championship, but to win (individual) rallies”.
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For the fifth successive Czech championship rally this year, Jan Kopecky has finished first and Vaclav Pech was second. This time it was on the Skoda supported Bohemia Rally.
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Sebastien Ogier was fined 4000 Euros, partially suspended for three rallies, for traffic offences on Saturday afternoon in Poland, in which he crossed a continuous white line, drove the wrong way round a roundabout and was reported to have collided with another road user.
He said their car had already been delayed by technical troubles, explained in the press conference to be alternator related.
WRC Trophy winner in Poland was Valeriy Gorban, but only after a worrying confrontation with the Stewards. His co-driver took him down a wrong road section and the team was punished with a 2000 Euros fine – but in neither case with a competition penalty.
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Perhaps not surprisingly, speeds this year in Rajd Polski were no faster than last year, but noticeably slower than in 2015. Fastest stage this year was the Power Stage at 125.1km/h.
- Martin Holmes
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