Only Sebastien Ogier has managed to beat Robert Kubica's time in the shakedown of the Rally de Polonia. The two-time champion defeated the local idol, who tied with Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen, by half a second. Dani Sordo finished seventh, while Kris Meeke had an accident on his birthday. Not a great celebration.
Ogier only needed three passes on the 3.3-kilometer Lubiewo stage to set an unbeatable time for the others. Kubica did six passes, Latvala did five, and Mikkelsen and the majority did four, although as more cars passed, the track deteriorated and became slower.
Kubica wanted to lower the excitement of his compatriots by saying, "We need to have realistic expectations. We have a smaller budget and a much smaller team than the official manufacturers. As always, I want to do well, but it's more important to drive without errors. I don't have a specific position in mind. The position I would like to achieve is the one our speed takes us to. Let's see where we are."
Sordo took the morning calmly and without pushing too hard, completing four passes on the special stage. His good friend Meeke messed up on the fifth pass, and now it remains to be seen if Citroën can fix his car for him to start this afternoon. The event starts with a 2.5-kilometer super special stage at 19:00 hours.