Janner ERC: Robert Kubica leads after day one
Robert Kubica ended a hard-fought first day of the Janner Rally leading the European Rally Championship season-opener
The Pole, who is contesting the event as a warm-up for his World Rally Championship programme with M-Sport, trailed early leader Kajetan Kajetanowicz at first.
A right-front puncture on stage four then dropped Kubica back to fourth place, while veteran Raimund Baumschlager burst into the lead as he correctly gambled on taking studless tyres for the changeable conditions.
Kajetanowicz crashed out on the sixth stage, leaving Baumschlager leading from a closing Vaclav Pech and Kubica.
A change of gear ratios at the midday service backfired for Baumschlager, and by the end of the third of the leg's four loops, he had dropped to third as Pech's Mini hit the front.
But Kubica had the momentum, taking three straight fastest times on the evening stages to move into the lead.
He will resume on Sunday morning with a 6.4-second cushion over Pech, while Baumschlager is now 20s down in third.
Leading positions after SS10: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Robert Kubica M-Sport Ford 1h24m52.6s 2. Vaclav Pech Invelt Mini +6.4s 3. Raimund Baumschlager BRR Skoda +20.9s 4. Jaromir Tarabus Czech Skoda +1m47.9s 5. Beppo Harrach DiTech Mitsubishi +1m59.1s 6. Andreas Aigner Stohl Peugeot +2m41.3s 7. Vasily Gryazin SRT Ford +3m00.6s 8. Roman Odlozilik TRT Ford +4m03.8s 9. Hannes Neubauer Stohl Subaru +5m12.0s 10. Robert Consani Delta Peugeot +5m16.1s
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