Saturday PWRC wrap: Kosciuszko out front

Michal Kosciuszko is on course for a vital win in the Production Car World Rally Championship on ADAC Rallye Deutschland after completing day two with a clear lead in the showroom category.

The Pole is behind in the title race after retiring on his last event in Argentina and badly needs a maximum haul of points to boost his title bid.

He took the lead from Ralliart Italy team-mate Benito Guerra, the current championship pacesetter, on Saturday’s first stage when a puncture delayed the unlucky Mexican and hasn’t looked back since, opening up an advantage of more than two minutes with Sunday’s trio of stages remaining.

“It’s sad what happened to Benny but that’s what happens in the fight,” said Kosciuszko. “He had a puncture but we did a perfect job and with one day to go it is looking quite okay.”

Guerra said: “The rally is not over yet, I am still in the battle with Michal.”

Marcos Ligato feared his hopes of a podium were over when a puncture on the first Stein & Wein test dropped him to fourth behind Subhan Aksa. However, with the Indonesian retiring, Ligato is back up to third at the overnight halt.

Aksa, competing on asphalt for the third time, was in third place following a string of stage wins this morning when he and co-driver Jeff Judd accidentally missed out the regroup prior to the midday service in Trier and were forced to stop. They are due to return on day three.

Mexican Rally Class competitor Ricardo Trivino is a solid fourth with Nicolas Fuchs next up in his Symtech Racing Impreza.

Mentos Ascania Racing team-mates Valeriy Gorban and Oleksii Kikireshko both returned to action having failed to go beyond Friday’s first test. While Gorban completed the day in seventh position, Kikireshko stopped again but is expected to return on day three under Rally 2 rules.

Louise Cook was unable to restart on day two after efforts to repair a suspected electrical glitch on her Ford Fiesta R2 proved unsuccessful.