72. Lotos Rally Poland - Rajd Polski 2015
2. 7. – 5. 7. 2015, Mikolajki • Polski Związek Motorowy • gravel 313.53 km - (cancelled 17.70 km) • total distance including road sections - 1192.50 km • Other years
Info
SS19
"I cannot be more satisfied. The car was perfect!"
"Now we are starting to prove ourself, it means so much to me. I really don’t have any words."
"We are more close than ever, Sweden was a great result, but it was a home rally. This was probably my best rally."
"This year we had so many great wins! Here we were first on the road for 90% of the rally. It's amazing, a great achievement!"
havaroval v lese, dojel, uniká mu voda z chladiče
puncture
"Not many positives here, not a very good rally for us. Too cautious with the pacenotes."
SS18
"Try to keep some rhythm,no problem."
"I knew that I just have to do my job, like always. That was a clean push, let's see on the power stage."
"That was a clean stage for us, of course you can push to the limit in certain places. Close to perfect. "
"I expected enough from Jari! It was an all-out push in here, we've had a really good rally."
"I pushed really, really hard. There were a few places where I made some mistakes. Sometimes this can happen."
"No pressure for me! We took it nice and easy through here."
"I took a cut and rolled the car. We were lucky!"
rolled, but finished
"A lot of cleaning in this stage. It will be faster and faster."
"You can see the lines but still some road cleaning. We have to get through the next one and think about next rally."
"I tried to get the speed, want to be ready for Finland. That's all you can do."
"I enjoyed this one but I hope I could trust the notes more.We made some adjustments now -should be better on next one."
"Not great, a lot of loose in there, soft at the beginning. Felt like it was taking power from the car."
SS17
"Quite a tricky day, but it went okay for us, although I struggled on the second loop with the hard tyres."
"You can see how tight the battle is. It's so nice to be right in the fight. I feel really good."
"Soft on the right, hard on the left. Mixed up. Happy enough though."
"I still think I could have done a better job. I was a little too careful in some places."
"I'm happy with my day. We went on hard tyres, then that stage got cancelled and destroyed my gameplan."
"I'm ready to continue the fight until the end now. Being in the lead is just fantastic."
SS16
"I couldn't trust my notes as we had the problem on the jump before. I have a clear target to improve km after km."
"Quite a lot of dust in some places. A few places the visibility was zero!"
"Hard tyres were a good choice for me. The visibility was bad in here - with the low sun and so many mosquitoes on the screen - not easy to drive."
"We will push hard tomorrow. I think it's good that somebody is fighting with the VW's."
"So much dust, I couldn't see, so difficult. I really pushed to the maximum, and took some risks because I couldn't see anything. I think that was our chance..."
"Generally I am happy, but I have been struggling in the mornings on this rally. I should be able to do these sort of times in the morning. The dust was bad, but I was able to see. It might get worse for the cars behind."
"All okay, the temperature is dropping and we had some under steer until the hard compound tyres on the front came up to temperature. A 20-sec cushion to Thierry is what we wanted, so job done."
"A little bit of a wrong pace note, but no big problem. There was some dust in there - I expect it will be worse for the cars behind."
"Another bad tyre choice I'm afraid. Yesterday the soft tyre was the one to go for in the afternoon, but today the opposite is true. The car is moving around a lot, I'm missing lateral grip and grip under braking."
"Soft tyres were the wrong choice, too soft, also the amount of dust made it hard to see."
"I think we made the right tyre call. A little problem with dust in here, for sure you lose three or four seconds dabbing the brake pedal."
Mikkelsen is pushing hard. Is Seb worried? "We will see, the road was a bit cleaner than the previous one."
SS15
"Quite difficult to get back into the rhythm after five hours of doing nothing."
“It was okay, for sure the cancellation of the previous stage did not help us as we have all hard tyres. For us it was clean stage and that is the most important.”
“It’s okay, now we have the feeling with the hards (tyres). It is really slippery in the beginning of the stage, the first corner. I think we have been brave already.”
"That felt better. I had a mental reset this afternoon and that was a lot cleaner. It felt good. I have hard compound tyres on the front, softs at the rear."
"My stage was perfect, I cannot do better than that. Two seconds faster for me is impossible."
"We have three hards and one soft - which made some of the corners interesting. For sure hard was the right call in here."
"I found the rhythm straightaway. I'm on the soft tyre, which wasn't too bad, but it looks like the hard choice was a good one too."
"I need all the stages I can, it's very important in the fight with Ott. In here the car feels good."
"I have hard tyres, so I wanted a long loop, but the cancellation [of SS14] ruined that plan. We have one more proper stage to go - let's see what we can do."
"I was looking forward to this afternoon. My driving and the car work better on the repeat stages. I had quite a good rhythm in there. I had a good steak for lunch. Enjoying life."
"Nice to drive again, to be honest. Okay for me. We had to follow the zero car to get here, which was a bit different to normal, but we made it to the stage okay."
SS13
"For the first time I really tried to push a bit. I did my best, and I'm quite pleased, but then you see Ogier's time..."
"We can take a few seconds here and there but he took far too much yesterday, That's life."
"We had to reverse in a hairpin, so not perfect, but we will fight back in the afternoon."
"We overshoot more than once - into a field. We are lucky." "Víc než jednou jsem to přehnali - do pole. Měli jsme štěstí."
"I'm still learning! It was a very slippery stage, we hit some some loose sand and I got stuck for two or three minutes."
stopped - moving again
"Lots of understeer in the second half when our tyres were worn." "V druhé půlce, když se víc ojely pneumatiky, bylo auto více nedotáčivé."
SS12
"Trying more, and the car is on the limit a lot. I was okay in the bumpy sections but maybe a bit too cautious. I'll be faster on the repeat."
"It was okay, but in some places it was terrifying. The car was jumping all around. I hoped for a better time but my car maxes at 170kph, while the Skodas have 200kph."
"The car feels fantastic."
Distracted by dust in the cockpit of his Skoda. "The side window dropped open after a jump. A bit irritating but it's okay."
"We bad pace note over a crest," he explains. "We landed in the bushes. We had to slow when we got a high water temperature warning, but that went off. It seems okay."
"A small off in one corner, onto the grass, that cost us a second."
front bumper is missing, heavy landing
"It was a good one but surprisingly tricky. A good run through, so we must be happy. We must keep pushing."
"The stage was nice. No problems. We'll think about our afternoon tyre choices on the next stage."
"It was okay. The first six kilometres were a bit messy, but then we got back into the rhythm."
"The stage is fine but I don't know why I have this time. I thought it would be okay, but we are really bad."
"I'm trying my best, trying to find my rhythm. Four seconds down on Ogier - I'm pushing."
"A very nice stage. I saw a lot of lines from people ahead who have been heading into the ditches..."
"Of course we would like to take some time back, but in some places I was a little bit cautious and that's where the loss came. I can Seb's lines in the road, and I can tell you he's not perfect either!"
"I thought I was driving well but maybe I was too careful in the second half - I thought it would be more slippery."
"Quite high temperatures again but the soft tyres seem to be working okay."
"This morning I'm really pleased. Pretty much perfect driving."
SS11
water pump problem
"The left front wheel hub is bent, and that's affecting our braking."
"So far so good, but I was a little too cautious in here. I didn't have enough confidence in the grip. Still, more than 100km to go, everything can happen."
"All okay - we were hitting the rev limiter in here."
"Kruuda is pushing pretty hard from behind, but a safe drive from us. All okay."
"It's not so easy to enjoy these stages, but everything is running perfectly. Very nice."
"The first split was good but in the second half, in the tight and twisty stuff, I lost out because I didn't have the precision. Overall I can be happy."
"Better, but I'm just driving at my own pace. I just do my best and we see where it gets us."
"A much better feeling now. The car is perfect, much more stable. Maybe we can push a bit more."
"I can't be happy with that."
"For some reason we seem to be losing traction because I had a consistent drive all the way through."
"Okay, but I'm not completely satisfied. My performance is not quite at the level I want. I can't seem to find the right balance between risk and caution."
"Quite a good stage for me. I'm happier now than I was after the first one. It's nice to have a good feeling with the car and enjoy it."
"Much better visibility and that was very close to a perfect run for me. We want to fight, so thanks to the organisers for increasing the time gaps."
"I pushed all the time. I'm happy with my drive, I cannot do more."
He will start the stage late. M-Sport say he stopped on the road section to make repairs to his car's water pump.
SS10
"The clutch broke. We weren't able to change it in service last night."
clutch issue
stopped
Can he catch Lappi? "I don't know, I'm just driving at my own speed. We made a few changes to the car, with different damper clicks, and the car feels really good."
"It's all about defending the lead now. We took it steady but I'm not the guy who needs to push today."
"All is fine, a fantastic stage. The brakes are working properly now."
"We had a spin at a junction near the start, with my [arm] limitation I wasn't able to correct the wheel in time, and we had to stop and reverse."
"I spun near the start and had to stop and turn around."
"I didn't have a good night's sleep..."
"Not a perfect stage. It was quite dusty under the trees and hard to see the road, so I took it steady."
"Seb doesn't seem to have any disadvantage at the head of the field. Today the dust is going to be a problem."
"We had a stall on the start line, and that set the tone for a terrible stage. Everything in the car is working okay but we can do better."
How bad is the dust? "It's not very nice, but that's the situation. One of those times when it's an advantage being first on the road."
"I'm trying to fight for victory but there is so much dust in here I just couldn't see. I need a three-minute gap. I really hope the organisers do something."
"We'll try again a new set-up. We have to."
"A good stage but there is a lot of loose gravel on the road, so soft tyres the right choice. Let's see how the cleaning road will affect me."
SS8
"Not a very good rally for me so far."
"We got one puncture, and went wide in here and hit a bank, but otherwise I can be happy with my day."
"A tough but really enjoyable opening day. We've carried a brake problem all day which we have worked around. At the same time we have got on and done the job we needed to do."
"We are not really able to push, we have a small issue with tyre blistering, so had to take it easy."
"The road is more cut up that I expected and it was hard to commit to the throttle."
"We went off into a field. Completely no grip. The left rear was letting go everywhere."
"The car was moving around a lot, so to lose only six seconds is pretty good."
"My tyres are not in great shape any more, but even with no tread it's surprising how good they are. I really enjoyed this stage."
"A good day, one small mistake from my side but on this rally I would say all options are still open."
"The feeling in the car was very similar to before but the time is much better. I can't explain why."
Completes with some front splitter damage. "Really? I didn't feel anything. Overall a good day but the guys behind are coming hard - especially on this stage where my tyres were done. I'm still happy."
"Our tyre choice wasn't right and we really struggled in there. In the car I'm feeling more confident - hopefully we can get the choices right tomorrow."
SS7
"No dramas, no problems and no reason to push harder. The feeling is good."
He completes with a huge bulge in one of his front tyres. "We had a big moment in a fast corner. I'm very happy to be here!"
his car has low oil pressure. He completes the stage and quickly parks up on the roadside to investigate.
"Esapekka is going very well, he already has quite a lead, but I'll keep pushing."
"We hit a rock and now the brake pedal goes right to the floor. I don't understand why I'm having so many problems."
"It was okay, we have a clean run through. We have to continue like this."
"We are continuing to struggle with our brakes."
Puncture. "I drove on it for seven or eight kilometres. I have no idea why we got it."
His car shows signs of an off road trip - with a missing door handle and a wheel stuffed full of dirt. "No brakes, no tyres, what do you expect? I don't know how we can mess up our tyre choices so often. Not nice."
"In the last few kilometres we had a strange feeling in the front-right. Maybe a puncture, or perhaps a damper. We'll have a look."
"It was the wrong choice for sure." (all-soft compound tyres)
He leaps out of the car to check his tyres. He has hard compound rubber at the front and soft at the rear. "We had a huge impact in the stage and I feared I had damaged one of the tyres."
"We went off. No grip whatsoever and I couldn't stop. Not good."
"A clean stage but I don't have the confidence to push 100 per cent. I decided to drop my speed to 98 per cent here and play it safe."
"Perhaps the softs weren't the best choice. The car was sliding a lot."
He reaches the end of the 39km stage with his front-right tyre badly worn. He has only one hard compound tyre for the afternoon stages. "I was a little too aggressive. We're going to make it, but we'll have to be careful."
SS6
"Of course I'm going to try and chase Lappi. The car is working well, I just need to get on the throttle earlier after the corners..."
"It was a good run though. We chose different tyres to the others - we're on the hard compound Pirelli. I wasn't sure it would work, but I am now."
"Now the tyres are getting really hot, we have to try and manage them, but it's still good."
"A bit better, and when the road is clean it's okay."
"There was lot of grip all round. The soft tyres seem okay."
"We have a mixture of hard and soft compound tyres here, but we're going full hards for the long stage."
"The feeling is good now. We have taken two hard compounds for the long stage."
"The grip was better, but I still can't find a good rhythm. I have a good idea about how to improve that."
"We went off into a field. There are some people standing in bad places - on the outside of corners. Lucky. Very lucky."
"The road is much cleaner. All okay for us, it will be an interesting loop I think..."
"I got caught out by a dip under braking, I got off the line and lost time. I could have gone faster maybe, but I need to save my tyres."
SS5
"The time was good but the stage was not perfect. I can do better. I felt the tyres were finished near the end. I will be much quicker in the afternoon."
"The water temperature is okay, I'm very lucky. Hopefully I can complete the rest of the day okay."
"We went straight on at two or three junctions, so a lot of mistakes!"
"The nicest stage so far. But in the braking zones we can't get the car stopped. Apart from that it was really enjoyable."
The front tyres on his Fiesta RS are badly won. "That's because we still have a brake problem - sometimes only the front ones are working."
"It's okay - I hope the spectators are enjoying it!"
"Not so good, my co-driver and I don't know how to find the rhythm."
"I was not on the right pace, all the time my notes were a little bit too slow."
"We got lost ourselves in the pace notes a couple of times. The notes were correct, but it's not easy for the co-drivers here."
"Not a good stage for us, we made three mistakes: one in a junction, one when we nearly went into a ditch and one with the pace notes."
"My speed is not good, but I feel cannot do much more."
"The morning loop was good. No tyre issues at all - I think mine must look like new."
SS4
He completes with frontal damage to his DS 3 and water leaking from the radiator. "I made a mistake near the middle of the stage, taking a corner flat when I should have slowed. I'm lucky to get to the end. We have to go and have a look."
"Maybe the decision to take two spare tyres wasn't the best. Still, we have two fresh tyres now for the next one."
"Harder than I expected, and a mistake on a junction where I had to stop, but I'm feeling more comfortable in the car."
"Fast with a lot of crests here, we had to make a few changes to the pace notes."
"It was okay, I had a good feeling in the car, I was able to push a bit more than on previous stages."
"I do my best but it's so slippery. Not easy. I don't lose much but can't do more at the moment. I just hope for better conditions later on"
"It's just so dusty, you need to adjust your pacenotes but you see absolutely nothing."
"I'm getting more confortable with the speed. I felt I did a few mistakes. We need to carry on."
SS3
"We had some issue with the brakes in the second half. I must go and have a look"
"The rhythm was really, really nice except for a couple of corners where I was too cautious. We struggled for traction in a few places too."
"Really unhappy. I knew from the start that we didn't have the speed, after that I was too cautious."
A bit more technical and cresty, I like this type of road, but my pace notes are a bit too slow, so I'm having to try and second guess where I can keep a higher gear."
"A little better than the first one. I enjoyed it more."
"Some slippery sections on the tarmac. I enjoyed it."
"Andreas is in a really good rhythm, but that is what I was expecting. I'm feeling good too."
"A good start. Quite careful in some places where we were checking our notes ready for the repeat."
"We need to continue to improve. It's going in the right direction though. The car set-up feels good. It's just getting used to everything."
"More corners than the first stage, and that means more of the road cleaning effect. I'm happy with my driving, but for sure the guys behind will be faster as the road cleans."
SS2
puncture
stopped
"The roads are really fast and it's difficult to find the right gear for the corners. It's completely different to what we are used to."
"At the beginning of the stage we noticed a small gearbox problem - it got stuck between gears like in Sardinia. I hope it's okay."
"The stages are maybe the fastest of the season and the most difficult to start, making pace note changes."
"Little bit dusty in the middle of the stage. Happy with the car and everything."
"I'm happy. After yesterday, we need to do the rally with no mistakes!"
"That was a good warm up to start the day! It was seriously fast which takes a bit of getting used to, but an okay start from us."
"Andreas had a very good time. We had a clean run, no problem at all but maybe too cautious in some places. Happy with the run."
"Clean stage, good rhythm! That’s 131kms in average speed."
"It'll be a long day without service and I didn't want to make mistakes. I didn't find the best pace immediately but still not a bad stage."
"Incredibly fast! I need to get used to the speed. It's very different from Sardegna."
SS1
"That was brilliant. Not many mistakes at all. There was a huge rock in one corner which I managed to avoid."
"We have seen so many fans for Robert, i'm happy for him. Great atmosphere!"
"It's all about tyres, I was on the hard for tomorrow. I had a good run."
"It's been a tricky day, but that's the way it is. Unfortunately, I stalled on the start line."
"I had a good feeling to start with, we had a good run. Last year was a completely different story."
"We didn't have a good stage, not good, we need to use these tyres tomorrow."
"More slippy in places, I couldn't see where I was going, it was challenging."
"It was a good rally for us last year, so we'll see how fast we go tomorrow."