World champion Sebastien Ogier of France regained the lead in the Rally of Poland on Friday, overtaking his Norwegian Volkswagen team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen.
After a day which saw two special stages cancelled for safety reasons, Ogier finished less than a second ahead of Mikkelsen.
Young Norwegian hope Mads Ostberg, in a Ctiroen, was third, 19.5sec off the pace.
The day’s sixth special stage proved decisive as Ogier, first out on the course, took full advantage of the conditions to finish a second and a half up on Mikkelsen and 15 seconds on Ostberg.
But with the roads’ sandy surfaces being badly churned up during the two stages in Lithuania, organisers decided to cancel the next two stages, over the same route later in the day, for safety reasons.
The seventh and eighth specials of the day having been cancelled, racing resumed in the evening with the ninth special and wrapped up for the day with a second super-special stage in the Mikolajki Arena, as Mikkelsen continued to claw away at Ogier’s lead.