[Rally Poland Day 2] Hirvonen On Cue For Win

BP Ford Abu Dhabi driver Mikko Hirvonen is on course to take victory in Rally Poland and the lead in the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship as he prepares for the event’s third and final day today.

After a furious competition on some of the fastest roads in the WRC, Hirvonen holds a 12-second lead over teammate Jari-Matti Latvala while Sebastien Loeb battles in 13th after a day-one crash in his Citroen, now able to do little about the likely loss of his championship lead.

The reversal of positions in the standings promises that the championship battle will be at fever pitch when the WRC tour arrives in the New South Wales Northern Rivers for Repco Rally Australia in 67 days’ time.

Hirvonen and Latvala maintained their overnight Ford one-two formation all through day two, despite a determined challenge from third-placed Citroen Total team driver Dani Sordo.

The Spaniard started the day 28 seconds behind Latvala, but attacked hard to narrow the gap to 16 sec. by the midpoint service.

However the Ford pair responded with a full-speed attack in the afternoon and clawed back almost all the time.

“The afternoon was absolutely insane,” Hirvonen said. ”It’s been a long time since we were this flat-out. It’s been a good day, even though I didn’t expect this level of battle.

“I thought it could be a bit easier but since the second stage today we’ve been absolutely flat-out. It’s been fantastic. Absolutely fantastic!”

Carrying the hopes of the Citroen team on his shoulders, Sordo put in a faultless performance in his Citroen C4 WRC, on roads which were widely expected to favour his Finnish rivals. He admitted it was going to be hard to improve his position on Sunday.

“It will be difficult (to catch them) because we won’t have many kilometres and today I was faster only in the first section. Unless Jarri or Mikko have problems, it will be difficult,” Sordo said.

Sebastien Ogier (Citroen C4 WRC), Petter Solberg (Citroen Xsara) and his brother Henning Solberg (Ford Focus) battled throughout the day to finish fourth, fifth and six respectively and separated by just 8.4 sec.

Rally Poland is round eight of the 2009 WRC. Round nine will start in Finland on 31 July and then the teams will travel Down Under for round 10, Repco Rally Australia, which will be headquartered at SALT Resort Village at Kingscliff.

Tickets for Rally Australia are now on sale from Ticketek (ticketek.com.au).