World Rally Championship: Kalle Rovanperä Takes the Lead in Poland
Finnish driver Kalle Rovanperä, the world champion for the past two years, has taken the lead in the Rally Poland, the seventh round of the World Championship, despite not originally planning to compete in the event. He will start the final stage this Sunday with a lead of just under 10 seconds over Norwegian driver Andreas Mikkelsen.
Rovanperä, who had planned a more relaxed 2024 season with a reduced racing schedule, was urgently called by the Toyota team to replace French driver Sébastien Ogier after Ogier suffered a traffic accident during pre-race reconnaissance. Rovanperä and his co-driver, Jonne Halttunen, had to take a plane to the Polish rally base in Mikoajki late on Tuesday, giving them barely any time to prepare.
Despite the short notice, Rovanperä has shown impressive form, taking the lead on Friday and maintaining it throughout the day, with the best time in six of the seven special stages. He set the fastest time in the first two stages, taking the lead from Mikkelsen, and has kept it ever since.
Rovanperä will start the final stage on Sunday with a lead of 9.4 seconds over Mikkelsen and 16.1 seconds over British driver Elfyn Evans. Behind are two drivers from the M-Sport team, French driver Adrien Fourmaux and Latvian driver Mrti Sesks, who is making his debut in the top category.
The leader of the drivers’ World Championship, Belgian driver Thierry Neuville, is currently sixth, 58.3 seconds behind Rovanperä, but still has a significant advantage over his rivals, with 128 points. The race will end on Sunday with four stages, the last of which will start at 2:15 p.m. CET (12:15 p.m. GMT).