Rally Poland: Sebastien Ogier extends lead despite road position
Sebastien Ogier confounded his World Rally Championship rivals' expectations again by inching away in the Rally Poland lead while running first on the road on Saturday morning
For the first time all season, there were no Rally 2 runners on day two to clean the road ahead of WRC leader Ogier.
With Andreas Mikkelsen only 2.1 seconds behind Ogier overnight, the champion was in a vulnerable position.
But despite in theory being disadvantaged, Ogier won two of the morning's four stages.
Mikkelsen initially complained that he was losing time due to poor visibility as dust from cars ahead hung in the air.
Organisers increased the gaps between cars from two to three minutes in response, but still Mikkelsen could not get on terms with Ogier.
By the end of the morning, the Frenchman was 7.2s clear in the lead.
Ott Tanak won the loop's other two stages in the M-Sport Ford, and he would've had a hat-trick but for a spin early on the Mazury opener.
He recovered to move one tenth of a second ahead of the muted Jari-Matti Latvala's VW for third heading for service.
Robert Kubica also spun on the first stage, but the home driver continues in seventh place behind the Hyundais of Hayden Paddon and Thierry Neuville.
Both Paddon and Neuville got among the VWs on stage pace at times. They are now 12.2s apart.
Kris Meeke remains eighth, while his Citroen team-mate Mads Ostberg is at least pulling away from Dani Sordo's Hyundai in ninth.
Outside the top 10, Elfyn Evans became the event's first World Rally Car retirement with a broken water pump on his M-Sport Ford.
Hyundai's fourth driver Kevin Abbring had to remove much of his car's front bodywork to prevent overheating after sustaining damage on an SS12 jump and then went off the road on the next stage, dropping him to 16th overall.
Esapekka Lappi continues to dominate WRC2 in the new Skoda, and he is only 34s behind 11th-placed Martin Prokop's WRC Ford.
RALLY STANDINGS
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Rally Poland: Ogier leads after brake problems halt Tanak's charge
WRC Rally Poland: Sebastien Ogier fends off Andreas Mikkelsen
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