Vatanen seeks a double in DMACK Fiesta Trophy
Finn claimed a dominant win on the opening round
Aasen takes Trophy lead after Poland win
Marius Aasen clinched his maiden Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy victory with a thrilling win at 72nd LOTOS Rally Poland on Sunday to move into the championship lead.
The 23-year-old Norwegian kept cool in searing temperatures to fend off Britain’s Tom Cave by 10.8sec and move two points clear in the standings. Max Vatanen, winner of the opening round in Portugal, was third but almost two minutes adrift of the duel ahead.
Six different drivers topped the timesheets over the 18 special stages covering nearly 300km in north-east Poland, and the lead changed hands on a regular basis as Aasen and Cave fought for supremacy in their Ford Fiesta R2 cars.
“We set the pace and kept to the plan of being safe and it’s a relief to finish in pole position. We tried to save the tyres and it paid off. I wanted the podium and hoped for first, and it feels good to win,” said Aasen.
Dutchman Mats van den Brand was on course for fourth before crashing in the final leg, allowing Gus Greensmith to move up. Belgian Ghislain de Mevius finished fifth with Kevin van Deijne sixth.
Will Hudson and Edoardo Bresolin were early retirements, while Spain’s Nil Solans set four fastest times but an off-road excursion on Friday dropped him to eighth.
