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Volkan Işık
starts today's second and final leg of the 65th Rally
Poland in his Grande Punto Abarth S2000 holding onto a
strong third place in the European Rally Championship
(ERC) counting positions after a solid opening day spent
familiarising himself with the rally's unique fast
gravel surfaces.
"It's was good,"
said Işık at the end of the first leg yesterday.
"We happy because of the result, the stages are very
difficult for us because we try to get used to driving here,
but we understand something now so we are happy." The Fiat
Motorsports Turkey-entered car is the only Grande Punto
Abarth S2000 entry in the field this weekend, although there
are a string of Peugeot 207 Super2000 machines, as well as
the obligatory hordes of turbocharged GpN Mitsubishis and
Subarus.
Experienced
local driver
Michał Sołowow
leads the ERC standings after the first leg, with Czech
pilot Tomasz Czopik (Mitsubishi Evo IX) lying in second
place, 1:19.9 adrift. Işık is next up, 2:12.4 off
Sołowow, but with a decent 51.3 seconds cushion over
Giovanni Manfrinato (Mitsubishi Evo IX) in fourth, while
Luca Betti, Corrado Fontana (who has swapped his usual
Grande Punto Abarth S2000 for a Mitsubishi Evo IX for this
round) and Krun Donchev complete the ERC points scorers
still in the rally after the first leg.
Meanwhile
Michal and Grzegorz Bebenek lead the standings overall after first day of competition of
the Rally Poland. At the midpoint of the event the
Mitsubishi Lancer crew are ahead of the current leaders of Polish championship classification Bryan Bouffier and Xavier Panseri (Peugeot 207
S2000) by 17.3 seconds. Michal Kosciuszko and Maciej Szczepaniak
(Peugeot 207 S2000) are third. They have lost 1:03.5 to the leaders.
The Bebenek brothers driving with
the #19 competition number were the biggest
surprise of the first day. Thanks to a superb drive they won all three stages
of the first loop yesterday morning, reaching the service park as the rally leaders. Although next
four stages were won by their rivals, the duo from Bohnia did not lose much
time and maintained the lead. "It was a good day for us. We had no bad luck,
no problems, no punctures and goings out of the road. It was really a
perfect day. Second loop was very tough. The road was rutted and S2000 cars
had an advantage. But I didn’t give up. There is going to be a fierce battle
with Bryan. I’ll do my utmost to win the rally," Bebenek said after first day of
competition.
Second place
with the gap of 17.3 seconds belongs to Bryan Bouffier and
Xavier Panseri. The current Polish champion who was fifth last year in
Mikolajki won only one stage yesterday. Additionally on SS 3 the Frenchman made
a mistake, spun and lost about 20 seconds. "Michal Bebenek was very fast today. I hope to be faster tomorrow," Bouffier commented after completing
the special stages yesterday.
Michal Kosciuszko and Maciej Szczepaniak (Peugeot 207 S2000) were not
competitive during first leg. The driver complained about poor handling of
the car which was caused by mechanical failure. As a result Kosciuszko was
late into the time controls twice and was given a 50-second penalty. His
mechanics managed to repair the car and the Peugeot driver won two stages which lifted
him to third place. "The car has much damages, but it is not serious. It was a day of mixed
emotions. We were given a time penalty, but after our car was repaired we
won two stages. I think we lose too much time to fight with Bebenek and
Bouffier. However, I’d like to show my abilities," was how Kosciuszko summed
up the first day.
The first day of competition was not lucky for Sebastian Frycz and Jacek
Rathe. At the finish of SS 4 their car caught fire. Extinguishers didn’t
help and the car burned totally. The crew was not injured however. At special stage 6 Krzysztof Hołowczyc and Lukasz Kurzeja lost
their chance of victory. His Peugeot 207 S2000 had a differential failure. Holowczyc
was forced to cover two stages with a broken car and lost almost 11 minutes.
The Mikołajki Super Special Stage finished off yesterday's proceedings. For the second
time in a row Tomasz Kuchar and Daniel Dymurski (Subaru Impreza) were the
winners. They were supported by thousands of spectators.
Today sees the final day of competition
in the 65th Rally Poland. The crews will tackle six special
stages totalling almost 130 kilometres. The first stages starts at 8:02 AM
and the winners
will reach the finish line at a scheduled time of 15:06.
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