Rashid Al Ketbi left disappointed not to finish Poland Rally

Sport360 staff 05:24 30/06/2014
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  • Back on course: Tanak won WRC 2 for the first time.

    The UAE’s Rashid Al Ketbi and German co-driver Karina Hepperle, driving for Skydive Dubai Rally Team, were unlucky not to finish the World Rally Championship at Rally Poland yesterday.

    Al Ketbi had been setting some excellent stage times in his Ford Fiesta R5 until 7km into the final run through the longest stage of the entire rally at Goldap on Saturday evening.

    At that point the Ford’s radiator failed and the Emirati had little chance of continuing his charge to hunt down Ott Tanak and Jari Ketomaa.

    Meanwhile, Tanak ended a frustrating start to the season by claiming his maiden win in the WRC 2 category.

    A series of crashes left the preseason title favourite languishing in the standings, but he led from start to finish to beat Drive DMACK team-mate Ketomaa by 1min 38.2sec.

    The Estonian dominated the four-day event on sandy roads in Poland and Lithuania, winning 17 of the 22 stages. He and Ketomaa built a big lead over their rivals, and with no pressure from his teammate, Tanak measured his pace for much of the event.

    “We had a small fight on Friday with Jari but after that it was fine. We’ve had some unlucky moments this season but finally we’ve done it,” said Tanak, who climbed to fifth overall in the championship.

    Ketomaa dropped time on Saturday after hitting a rock and spinning his Fiesta R5. However, second means the Finn moves to third in the title race, with his home event coming next.

    Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi finished third in a Fiesta RRC, despite a suspected broken propshaft on the last stage. He finished 4min 11.2sec off the lead. He climbs to 8th overall from 17th before Rally Poland.

    Fourth was Ukraine’s Valeriy Gorban, his Mini John Cooper Works 5min 30.0sec behind Tanak with Portugal’s Bernardo Sousa rounding off the top five.

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