Rally-eMag September 2013 | Page 48

ERC: Lotos Rally Poland / Rally review Going through a fifth-gear right hand corner Kubica hit a rock breaking his right front wheel. Despite struggling to the end of the stage Kubica was forced to retire. “I tried to make it to the finish as I thought we had some spare parts but we don’t and it’s a shame. I thought at the beginning it was a puncture but in the end it was the wheel.“ Another suffering from the atrocious conditions on the day’s final stage was Estonian youngster Martin Kangur. He had impressed many with fastest time on the fifth stage. A powersteering problem on the final stage caused him to crash into a tree losing nearly two minutes (and all hopes of a good result) in the process. So, with all those guys losing time, who is up in front? Not Craig Breen. The Irishman has shown flashes of brilliance this season but failed to make a similar impact in Poland. A puncture early on caused him some time, but he never looked the superstar-in-the-making as he has on other events. He ended the day down in eigth. Peugeot teammate Bryan Bouffier though was up front. Capitalizing on his experience of the Polish stages Bouffier jumped out in front from the start. He won the first two stages to open up a small gap to Robert Kubica. Later in the afternoon he set another fastest time and when Kubica faltered, he could take a little breather. It would be a very little breather though as Kajetan Kajetanowicz quickly seized second place and put the pressure back on Bouffier. At the end of the day just under 17 seconds separated the two with Solowow in third. 48/52 ‘Semi-local’ Bryan Bouffier was immediately on the pace and fought till the end. Battle Royale(?) As the crews rolled over the start ramp for the second day of the rally a great battle between Bouffier and Kajetanowicz appaered to be on hand. Both drivers have a lot of experience on the event and Bouffier knows his Peugeot 207 S2000 like the back of his hand. Kajetanowicz meanwhile had only done 200 kms of testing in the new Fiesta R5 before starting the event. Coming to grips with the car pretty quickly he was getting faster and faster. Surely this would be an awesome fight to the finish. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be. Bouffier hit trouble on the very first stage of the day. A broken right rear suspension damper spoiled his day. Rather than risking everything Bouffier opted to ease off and nurture his car to the finish to take a save second. But eventually it was Kajetanowicz who jumped into the lead.