Intro:

Rally of Poland organisers were forced to cancel Friday afternoon's (27th June) seventh and eighth stages in Lithuania because of excessive damage caused to the gravel tracks during the morning's rallying.

Script:

Lithuania was supposed to have hosted four stages of the Rally of Poland, but only two were actually contested and one of those was shortened by half.

In all, only 40 kilometres of timed racing took place in the country.

Despite milder weather, the sandy surfaces cut up badly after the first visit of the World Rally Championship to the Lithuanian forests.

The drivers running sixth, seventh and further down the order complained of deep ruts and the organisers were compelled to cancel the repeat visits in the afternoon in the interests of competitor and spectator safety.

Crews headed back into Poland for stage nine, a repeat of this morning's stage four.

British driver Kris Meeke explained the situation:

SOUNDBITE: (English) Kris Meeke, Citroen DS3 driver:

"Well, we've had a day out in Lithuania, but it seems as if the.... We knew the stages would be very rough on the second pass, but they've cancelled them because it's simply too rough."

Before the final stage on day two, French driver Sebastien Ogier held a slim lead over his team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen in second place both in VW Polos with Mads Ostberg, in a Citroen DS3, in third.