Motorsports: Finnish driver wins 80th Rally Poland

Finnish driver Kalle Rovanpera has won this year's Rally Poland, which ended in the northeastern Polish lakeside resort of Mikołajki on Sunday.

Finnish driver Kalle Rovanpera, with co-driver Jonne Halttunen, in action at the 80th Rally Poland on Sunday, June 30, 2024.

Photo: PAP/Tomasz Waszczuk

Britain's Elfyn Evans came in second, and France's Adrien Fourmaux finished third in the annual rally, which was held for the 80th time.

RALLY POLAND WINNERS!🥳🏆

It has been a crazy and far from normal week. We worked really hard these past few days and we are both really feeling tired now, but we managed to win and bring these important points to our team!#KR69 #ToyotaGAZOORacing #RallyPoland pic.twitter.com/23KiddYVP0

— Kalle Rovanperä (@KalleRovanpera) June 30, 2024

Double Poland podium! 🥳🍾#ToyotaGAZOORacing #GRYaris #WRC #RallyPoland 🇵🇱 pic.twitter.com/WtCb504Db3

— TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT (@TGR_WRC) June 30, 2024

Home favourite Mikołaj Marczyk, who won the 2022 Rally Poland, finished 18th.

Forty-two crews from 23 countries took part in the 80th Rally Poland, which was also the seventh round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) series, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

🔴 Wrap-Up Show LIVE | WRC ORLEN 80th Rally Poland 2024

👉 Watch highlights and onboard videos at https://t.co/bVNpLD93Wo 👀#WRC I #RallyPoland 🇵🇱 https://t.co/2xd5fqOiYG

— FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) June 30, 2024

🤩 Dziękujemy @OfficialWRC za przepiękny ORLEN 80. Rajd Polski! #WRC | #RallyPoland 🇵🇱 https://t.co/jNgIRx3kMe

— ORLEN Rally Poland (@orlenrajdpolski) June 30, 2024

Some competitors were from as far afield as Bolivia, Argentina and Peru.

🥹 Piękna historia @KalleRovanpera

Dziękujemy Wam wszystkim za ten cudowny czas i niezapomniany ORLEN 80. Rajd Polski 👏🇵🇱@GrupaORLEN | @TeamORLEN pic.twitter.com/1FCgZ2Dhww

— ORLEN Rally Poland (@orlenrajdpolski) June 30, 2024

Belgium's Thierry Neuville leads the World Rally Championship after the event in Poland, while Britain's Evans is in second place, ahead of Estonia's Ott Tanak and French driver Sébastien Ogier.

Congratulations to @KalleRovanpera, @JonneHalttunen and the whole @TGR_WRC team on the strong performance and amazing result at Rally Poland! I knew there would be no better replacement than you guys! Very well done!!

Things are still improving and going in a positive direction… pic.twitter.com/eQM4uPCNfe

— Sébastien Ogier (@SebOgier) June 30, 2024

Ogier, a two-time Rally Poland winner and an eight-time world champion, had to withdraw from Rally Poland after suffering a minor accident during a reconnaissance drive, the organizers said.

Thanks Seb and get well soon!😊

— Kalle Rovanperä (@KalleRovanpera) June 30, 2024

The next round of the World Rally Championship series will take place in Latvia from July 18 to 21.

(gs)

Source: PAP, rajdpolski.pl