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WRC 2 in Poland: Maiden win for Veiby

Ole Christian Veiby toppled WRC 2 championship leader Pontus Tidemand to win the support category at orlen 74th Rally Poland on sunday afternoon.

Tidemand boasted a perfect record of four wins from four starts. But Veiby proved more than a match for the Swede on the superfast Polish roads to claim his maiden WRC 2 victory by 32.9sec in a Skoda Fabia R5.

After leading from Friday morning and building a lead of more than a minute by Saturday night, Veiby could afford to measure his pace through Sunday's wet and greasy speed tests near Mikolajki.

While Tidemand, also driving a Fabia, won three of the four tests to eat into Veiby's advantage, the Norwegian kept his cool and described the win as ‘the greatest high point in my career'.

"I'm almost out of words. I was absolutely not expecting to come to Poland and beat Pontus. I'm exceptionally proud. By winning a WRC 2 event for the first time, I've hit a new milestone. The thought of that feels so good," he said.

"I think we managed to keep calm and focused. Even though we just needed to get to the finish, I can guarantee that it's not easy in those conditions. That's why I didn't take anything for granted until we crossed the finish line on the last stage."

Tidemand's consolation was that he stretched his championship lead to 50 points and is now within touching distance of the title. Veiby climbed from sixth to second.

Quentin Gilbert finished third in another Fabia, 4min 20.3sec off the lead, with Benito Guerra holding off Yoann Bonato's Citroën DS 3 R5 to claim fourth. Wojciech Chuchala provided some joy for home fans by finishing sixth in a Ford Fiesta R5.

Young Briton Gus Greensmith was in a podium place until he broke a steering arm in his Fiesta R5 after hitting a gulley. He returned to finish seventh and set two fastest times.

Zdroj: wrc.com