Rally Poland: Tanak cracks under pressure and hands victory to Mikkelsen

Andreas Mikkelsen (Volkswagen Motorsport) catches his second WRC victory today in Poland, by winning the Rally Poland in a dramatic fight against Ott Tanak (DMACK Ford). The 28-year-old Estonian, who led for most of the event, was so close to his maiden victory but cracked under pressure and made a mistake on the penultimate stage.

His Ford Fiesta had a puncture and he lost more than half a minute, dropping 16.5 seconds behind Mikkelsen. On the last stage, the Power Stage, Mikkelsen was ten seconds faster while Tanak almost lost his second place, holding of 2.3sec ahead of Hayden Paddon (Hyundai).

Ott Tanak was so close to his maiden WRC victory

The defending world champion and current championship leader Sebastien Ogier has won the Power Stage, to finish sixth in the final order, 4.5sec behind teammate Jari-Matti Latvala. Thierry Neuville finished fourth overall and took one additional point with third place at Power Stage.

Craig Breen (Citroen), Mads Ostberg (Ford), Eric Camili (Ford) and Teemu Suninen (Škoda) complete the Top 10. Suninen is also the winner in the WRC 2 classification, ahead of Elfyn Evans and Esapekka Lappi.