LOTOS Rally Poland Day Three

World Champion Sebastien Ogier takes a 1m 01.8s lead into the final day of LOTOS 71st Rally Poland after steering clear of trouble on Saturday's ten stages.

The third day of the ultra-fast gravel rally was punctuated by a raft of problems for Ogier's rivals. But the Frenchman used his championship-winning experience and guile to avoid any such dramas. He started the day with a 0.9s advantage and ended it with a 61-second cushion

Ogier's closest challenger was once again his team-mate, Andreas Mikkelsen, but his charge faltered after the second stage of the day when he spun and lost 10 seconds. His misery was complete when the brakes on his VW Polo stopped working on the penultimate stage. That was the final act in his surrender to Ogier. Thierry Neuville impressed his Belgian fans by moving up to third place

The day's biggest drama unfolded on SS14 when Kris Meeke, Robert Kubica and Henning Solberg all dropped vital time when they suffered punctures, while Jari-Matti Latvala suffered near terminal suspension damage when he clouted a rock in his VW Polo. The stage also accounted for Welshman Elfyn Evans who retired after seriously damaging his Ford Fiesta RS WRCs front-left suspension, while Citroen's Mads Ostberg joined him on the sidelines when he smashed into the same rock and rolled his DS3 WRC.

29th June, 2014