Throughout the second leg of Rally Poland, all three Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT drivers managed to combine speed and consistency. Stéphane Lefebvre climbed to seventh overall, whilst Andreas Mikkelsen sneaked into the points. According to team principal Yves Matton that shows that they made the work done before the rally count.
The longest day of the rally featured four stages, each contested twice, either side of a mid-leg service. At the end of the afternoon loop, the competitors also completed a third and final run on the Mikolajki Arena super special stage. With the Priority 1 drivers running in reverse championship order, Craig Breen and Andreas Mikkelsen were the first to tackle the stages, whilst Lefebvre was fifth on the road. However, with sunshine making a return to the skies above Mazury, it was far from certain that these positions represented an advantage. Still, conditions were far better. At the end of the day Lefebvre was seventh, Mikkelsen – tenth and Breen – 13th.
“In consistently setting some of the leading times, our three drivers had a good day, which shows we’ve made the work done before the rally count”, Yves Matton said
“In dry conditions, we can see that the upgrades made to the C3 WRC have enabled the drivers to push whilst maintaining control. Like yesterday, we should highlight the strong performance of Stéphane Lefebvre, who has moved up the overall standings. It’s now up to him to finish the job tomorrow and record a positive result. It’s been an encouraging day, but we must work even harder to find the last few tenths.”
Lefebvre added it was his best day in the Citroen C3 WRC.
“It wasn’t easy to find the right pace or the right set-up as we went from one stage to another but all in all, everything went well and I was able to push without taking any major risks. I’ll remaine focused and ready to take advantage of the slightest opportunity to move further up the overall standings. There are still four stages to go!”
#RallyPoland ??⏱️SS18 10.05,6 “Feeling is good, but still not there at 100% when you really know the car and go flat out everywhere.” pic.twitter.com/DULic9JrpS
— Andreas Mikkelsen (@AMikkelsenRally) July 1, 2017
