Lappi heads Skoda 1-2 in Poland WRC 2 clash
Finn heads Tidemand after opening leg
Lappi keeps Pontus at bay in WRC 2
Esapekka Lappi remained firmly in control of WRC 2 at 72nd LOTOS Rally Poland despite the best efforts of Skoda Motorsport team-mate Pontus Tidemand to rein him in during Saturday’s second leg.
Tidemand won five of the seven special stages to nibble away at Lappi’s lead. But the Swede only succeeded in reducing the deficit from 50.1sec to 37.7sec.
Tidemand improved his Fabia R5’s handling by changing the damper settings this morning, but Lappi’s lead was such that the Finn felt comfortable in defending from the front. His only problem came in SS13 when he overshot a hairpin.
Karl Kruuda was third in Citroën’s DS 3 R5, 2min 04.2sec off the lead. The Estonian won the opening stage this morning and the trio monopolised the top three times throughout the day.
Jari Ketomaa enjoyed a better day after yesterday’s string of problems in his Ford Fiesta R5. The Finn climbed from sixth to fourth despite a brake problem caused by a bent left front wheel hub. He was 2min 31.1sec behind Kruuda.
Armin Kremer’s Fabia R5 and the older Fabia S2000 of Teemu Suninen completed the top six. Kremer was 17.5sec behind Ketomaa and 11.0sec ahead of Suninen.
Championship leader Nasser Al-Attiyah retired for the second time in two days. After restarting under Rally 2 rules following yesterday’s suspension problems, the Qatari went out after SS12 and will not restart tomorrow.
