Poland WRC: Evans leads Neuville in Thursday superspecial
Elfyn Evans will lead Rally Poland into its first full day after setting the pace on Thursday evening's Mikolajki Arena superspecial.
Photo by: M-Sport
In wet conditions, the DMACK Ford driver was eight tenths of a second ahead of Thierry Neuville's Hyundai, with the M-Sport Ford of WRC points leader Sebastien Ogier a further tenth back.
Jari-Matti Latvala was the fastest of the Toyotas in fourth, ahead of Ott Tanak.
Latvala's teammate Esapekka Lappi came through the stage with a competitive time for joint sixth place with Stephane Lefebvre and Hayden Paddon, but was concerned that his Yaris was developing an engine problem.
Lefebvre, who had missed the last rally in Italy to make way for Andreas Mikkelsen, was the fastest Citroen driver. Mikkelsen, this time replacing Kris Meeke, and Craig Breen came in ninth and 12th.
M-Sport has an additional Fiesta WRC this weekend for its WRC2 star Teemu Suninen, who began his top-class debut with the 13th-fastest time.
Results after SS1:
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time/Gap |
| 1 |  Elfyn Evans |
M-Sport Ford | 1m44.4s |
| 2 |  Thierry Neuville |
Hyundai | +0.8s |
| 3 |  Sebastien Ogier |
M-Sport Ford | +0.9s |
| 4 |  Jari-Matti Latvala |
Toyota | +1.3s |
| 5 |  Ott Tanak |
M-Sport Ford | +1.4s |
| 6 | Esapekka Lappi |
Toyota | +1.5s |
| 7 |  Hayden Paddon |
Hyundai | +1.5s |
| 8 | Stephane Lefebvre |
Citroen | +1.5s |
| 9 |  Andreas Mikkelsen |
Citroen | +1.6s |
| 10 |  Dani Sordo |
Hyundai | +1.8s |
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