|
|
|
|
 |
One of the oddities in the WRC history, Polish Rally was included in the WRC calendar only once in 1973 - until it made comeback after 36 years of absence in 2009. Meanwhile event was still being organized as a round of FIA European Rally Championship. Rajd Polski has surprisingly long history as it was run for the first time already in 1921 and celebrated it's 66th edition in 2009. Over the years there have been several gaps on running of the event due to instabilities in the region like Second World War, it's immediate aftermaths in early 1950s and finally during Solidarity movement and subsequent martial law in early 1980s.
Poland's inclusion to inaugural 1973 WRC calendar, which contained many other interesting events as well, was quite natural as Polish Rally was well established event by then. Unfortunately, it apparently wasn't quite up to the standards required from world class event and even worse, only three entrants were classified. This is all-time low and a record that still stands - and even though four other crews did complete the route, they were over maximum lateness and were excluded.
Rally was very demanding, consisting of 55 stages and almost 750 kilometers in just two days. Just for comparison, Corsica - which also was run in just two days - had only a dozen stages and around 500 kilometers. 36 years later things are very different in almost every way. During intervening years rally was held on tarmac but switched back to gravel for 2005, with the view of making return to WRC. The new Rajd Polski (Rally Poland) is contested over smooth gravel roads in North-Eastern Poland.
|
|
|
|
| 1973:
|
Warmbold, Achim
|
Fiat 124 Abarth Spider
|
86.65 km/h
|
| 2009:
|
Hirvonen, Mikko
|
Ford Focus RS WRC 09
|
112.67 km/h
|
| 2014:
|
Ogier, Sebastien
|
Volkswagen Polo R WRC
|
118.50 km/h
|
| 2015:
|
Ogier, Sebastien
|
Volkswagen Polo R WRC
|
121.41 km/h
|
| 2016:
|
Mikkelsen, Andreas
|
Volkswagen Polo R WRC
|
116.56 km/h
|
| 2017:
|
Neuville, Thierry
|
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
|
116.52 km/h
|
|
|
 |
Most of the stages are held in smooth and flowing stages almost like those in Finland except with fewer crests and jumps.
 |
 |
|
There also are narrow country roads with steep banks - Henning Solberg doesn't allow limited space to deter him.
|
 |
|
In some places the soft sandy road cuts up pretty badly, especially during second pass over the stage.
|
|
Driver wins
|
Ogier, Sebastien (2)
Hirvonen, Mikko (1)
Mikkelsen, Andreas (1)
Neuville, Thierry (1)
Warmbold, Achim (1)
|
|
Manufacturer wins
|
Volkswagen (3)
Fiat (1)
Ford (1)
Hyundai (1)
|
|
