BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team driver Mikko Hirvonen leads Rally Poland tonight after a dramatic opening day on which championship leader Sebastien Loeb crashed out for the second rally in succession.
Feeling right at home on the high-speed gravel stages which resembled those in his native Finland, Hirvonen edged ahead of Loeb and into a slim rally lead on today's second stage (SS3). But his lead became far more secure on SS4 when Loeb retired from the day after crashing his Citroen into a tree stump.
Loeb's exit promoted Hirvonen's team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala into second place and despite pressure from a hard charging Dani Sordo in the remaining factory Citroen behind, the pair held formation for the rest of the day.
Sordo completed the day 28.1 seconds adrift of Latvala's second place and also impressed by Hirvonen's pace on SS5. WRC privateers Petter Solberg and fellow Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen were involved in an exciting scrap for fourth place for much of the afternoon. Petter edged 1.1sec ahead on the penultimate stage. But the final stage battle evaporated when Mikkelsen's Skoda stopped with an engine problem 22km into the last stage.
Petter's elder brother Henning rounded of the top five places after a largely frustrating day in his Stobart VK team Ford Focus.
Feeling right at home on the high-speed gravel stages which resembled those in his native Finland, Hirvonen edged ahead of Loeb and into a slim rally lead on today's second stage (SS3). But his lead became far more secure on SS4 when Loeb retired from the day after crashing his Citroen into a tree stump.
Loeb's exit promoted Hirvonen's team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala into second place and despite pressure from a hard charging Dani Sordo in the remaining factory Citroen behind, the pair held formation for the rest of the day.
Sordo completed the day 28.1 seconds adrift of Latvala's second place and also impressed by Hirvonen's pace on SS5. WRC privateers Petter Solberg and fellow Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen were involved in an exciting scrap for fourth place for much of the afternoon. Petter edged 1.1sec ahead on the penultimate stage. But the final stage battle evaporated when Mikkelsen's Skoda stopped with an engine problem 22km into the last stage.
Petter's elder brother Henning rounded of the top five places after a largely frustrating day in his Stobart VK team Ford Focus.