Ogier sees negative side of being out in front

France's two-time world champion Sebastien Ogier finished the second day of the Rally of Poland in the lead but not looking forward to having to be first out on Saturday.

The 31-year-old, who leads this season's championship standings by 66 points from Mads Ostberg, has a two-second lead over VW Polo team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen with another stablemate, Jari-Matti Latvala, third over 10sec adrift.

Ogier won just two of the eight special stages on Friday.

"If finishing at the head of affairs is good news, the bad news of the day will be to set off first tomorrow," said Ogier, who won this leg of the championship last year.

Latvala, who won one special stage, saw the brighter side of starting out ahead.

"I think to be among the first starters can be a drawback in certain cases, but today it allowed us to avoid having dust splatter our windscreens," said the Finn.

Ogier may have finished the day on top but the star of the show on Friday was Estonian Ott Tanak who began the day in 11th but swept three straight special stages to at one point hold the overall lead.

He finished the day in fourth, over 16 seconds off the pace, in his Ford Fiesta and giving them a strong chance of claiming only their second podium finish of the campaign.

Tanak's team-mate, former Formula One driver and home favourite Robert Kubica, whose right arm was almost severed in a serious rally accident in 2011, drove steadily but still finished the day in sixth place, over 37 seconds behind Ogier.
Source: AFP