Victory for Rovanperä in Rally Poland

The current world champion, who is participating in a selective program of events this year, was not scheduled to compete in Poland but was called at the last minute by his team, Toyota GAZOO Racing, to replace Sébastien Ogier, who had an accident during reconnaissance the previous Tuesday.

With less than 48 hours to prepare, Rovanperä and his co-driver Jonne Halttunen achieved an outstanding performance. Driving their GR Yaris Rally1, Rovanperä secured his thirteenth victory, finishing 28.3 seconds ahead of his teammate Elfyn Evans in a 1-2 finish for Toyota. Hyundai's Andreas Mikkelsen fell from the lead to sixth place on Sunday due to tire issues.

Rovanperä started the final day with a 9.4-second lead over Mikkelsen. However, the Hyundai driver suffered a problem on the first stage of the day, losing significant time and finishing in sixth place. Adrien Fourmaux of M-Sport Ford completed the podium, 14.4 seconds behind Evans.

Rovanperä commented: "It has been an intense week. We worked hard and are really tired, but it was a good decision to come. We helped the team and gained important points for the manufacturers' championship."

Mikkelsen, who led the rally on Friday, had a tire issue that affected his performance. Despite the problem, he decided to continue to secure points for Hyundai. The competition was marked by warm weather and fast stages, maintaining tension among the drivers.

Evans, who had some minor tire issues, performed well compared to his direct rivals. He overtook Ott Tänak to reclaim second place in the drivers' championship, reducing Thierry Neuville's lead to 15 points with six rounds remaining.

Tänak had an impact that forced him to retire on Friday, but he returned in the following days, scoring 11 points on Sunday. Neuville, his Hyundai teammate, won the Wolf Power stage, finishing fourth after clearing the path on Friday.

Adrien Fourmaux achieved his third podium of the season, finishing 28.1 seconds ahead of Neuville. Mārtiņš Sesks of Latvia had a notable performance, finishing fifth in his debut in the main category. Driving a non-hybrid Puma, Sesks will upgrade to a full-spec car for the round in his country next month.

Mikkelsen finished more than two minutes behind Rovanperä, followed by Grégoire Munster and Takamoto Katsuta. Sami Pajari won the WRC2 category and placed ninth, while Oliver Solberg took advantage of Robert Virves' puncture to enter the top 10.

The next WRC event will be the Tet Rally Latvia, a new event on the calendar, which will take place in Liepāja from July 18 to 21.