Trio Of Puma's To Tackle Rally Poland

Returning to the FIA World Rally Championship for the first time since 2017, Orlen Rally Poland will be welcomed back by teams and fans with open arms. Famous for it’s fast, flowing and unforgiving gravel stages, the variable Polish terrain, always looking to catch out crews, is a favourite to many.

Based in the northern town of Mikołajki, tucked away in the Masurian Lake District, the area will once again become the home of the rally. A picturesque ceremonial start will kick off the action on Thursday night, before the first run of the side-by-side Mikołajki Arena Super Special Stage. A tyre fitting zone punctuates the day on Friday, adding pressure to crews to manage their cars well throughout the day, with no chance to do substantial repairs until the evening.

Another full day of rallying follows on Saturday, with the event ending on the spectacle of the Mikołajki Power Stage on Sunday afternoon.

M-Sport Ford World Rally Team is prepared to welcome its newest members, Mārtiņš Sesks and Renārs Francis, to the Rally1 squad on Orlen Rally Poland next week. The Latvian pairing will debut the first appearance of the non-hybrid Puma Rally1, alongside Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria, and Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka.

Mārtiņš Sesks will benefit from a strong knowledge of Poland; having competed on three previous editions of Rally Poland as part of the FIA European Rally Championship, including claiming the win on last year’s edition, the Latvian driver will make use of this to support his step-up to Rally1 machinery.

Sesks will make history by driving the first non-hybrid Rally1 in the WRC since the introduction of the cars in 2022. Carrying 100kg of ballast weight in lieu of the hybrid unit, Sesks will have the chance to adapt to the Puma in Poland before upgrading to full hybrid for his home rally in Latvia in a few weeks’ time.

Grégoire Munster makes his return to Poland for the first time since 2021, having made two ERC appearances there before his move to WRC2. With his confidence bolstered by his career-best fifth overall finish in Sardinia, Munster looks forward to growing his experience level on fast gravel stages and aims to collect more points for his championship attack.

A fresh face to Polish rallying, Adrien Fourmaux will hope to apply his knowledge of fast Finnish and Estonian stages to the roads of Rally Poland. Now fifth in the championship standings, Fourmaux will benefit from a strong road position and aim to use this to gain a valuable advantage over his rivals at the top. After a strong first half of the 2024 season, Fourmaux will look to further strengthen his championship charge across the upcoming fast gravel rallies.

Richard Millener, Team Principal, said:

“I am really looking forward to getting back to Poland, the event is set in a really nice area of the country and has always had a very passionate fan base, who are fantastic to be around. The event is very high speed which results in some incredible footage, but will also be a new adventure in some form or another for all our crews so we will just take one day at a time, with the same approach as we have so far this season and be looking for some strong results.”

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