A rare mistake from Sebastien Ogier has handed the Central European Rally lead to Hyundai’s Ott Tanak while World Rally Championship Rally1 rookie Sami Pajari rolled on Sunday morning. 

Ogier started the final day of the rally with a 5.2s margin over Tanak but a lock up approaching a left-hander at the start of a bone dry but dirty stage 15 (Am Hochwald 12.17km) proved costly. 

The eight-time world champion’s Toyota GR Yaris, last to start the stage, ran off the road onto grass before eventually rejoining the stage, which cost him valuable seconds. 

Ogier reached the stage end 7.1s slower than Tanak, handing the Hyundai driver the rally lead by 1.9s.

«There was a lock-up for us and we went straight. All okay, it is the way it is,” said Ogier when asked about he incident. 

The stage proved to be particularly tricky for the later runners as gravel and dirt had been dragged onto the surface after several anti-cut devices had been removed. 

Tanak described the test as having “dirty surprises” and “very challenging” as he ultimately completed the test 3.8s slower than the pace set by the returning M-Sport-Ford driver Adrien Fourmaux, who was first on the road.     

Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Evans was second fastest on the stage to maintain third position overall. Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta was fourth quickest while Neuville was 0.2s faster than rival Tanak, although clearly frustrated by the lack of anti-cut devices. 

«If I see the conditions in there, I don’t want to push too much, there are many surprises,» said Neuville.  

“I had a big slide immediately in the beginning. All the anti-cuts have moved and some have been removed, it’s not nice. They are moved by just a tiny bit and the road is dirty.”

The challenging stage conditions were highlighted by Pajari, who rolled out of sixth position overall. 

The Finn, making his third Rally1 outing and his first on asphalt, ran wide at a medium-left corner running into a ditch that pitched his GR Yaris into a roll. The car eventually came to rest on its wheels but with damage to the front and rear of the car, which ended his rally prematurely.   

“It was so fast I don’t really know what happened. It is clear to see we went a bit wide on a corner and we rolled quite softly. The damage is not so bad on the car so maybe we could continue, but we don’t want to cause any more damage,” said Pajari.

“It is quite a shame as it was quite a soft roll but I don’t know why it happened because in my opinion my pacenote was okay and there was nothing really surprising at that corner, so I don’t know why.”

Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen picked up a front left puncture in the stage neccessitating a wheel change.   

Tanak continued to lead after stage 16 although his lead was reduced to 1.5s after Ogier took 0.4s out of the Estonian in the first pass of the stage, that will act as the rally ending PowerStage.

Katsuta took the stage win, his second of the rally, by 1.5s from Ogier to move into a tie with Fourmaux at the top of the Super Sunday standings. Katsuta did hit something on his way to the stage end that caused minor damage to the front of his GR Yaris.   

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier will take a slender lead over Hyundai’s Ott Tanak as 14s separated the top three heading into the final four stages of the Central European Rally.

The eight-time world champion won two of the three afternoon asphalt stages to extend his advantage over Tanak to 5.2s, with Toyota’s Elfyn Evans in third and 14s back.

Ogier’s performance earned the Frenchman 18 provisional championship points to boost Toyota’s manufacturers’ title hopes, while Tanak picked up 15 points and Evans claimed 13.

Championship leader Thierry Neuville ended the day in fourth, 39.8s back on the overall lead, to claim 10 provisional championship points, after two errors in the morning’s stage 11 cost him half a minute and the rally lead.

It proved to be a setback for the Belgian, who can seal a maiden world title if he can outscore Tanak by two points.

Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, team-mate Sami Pajari and M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster rounded out the top seven. M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux retired from the day’s action after damaging the rear of his Ford Puma in stage 10.

Neuville’s demise in the morning put attention firmly on the fight for the rally lead between Ogier, Tanak and Evans as the trio had been separated by 8.1s.

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

The afternoon’s first stage, a second pass through Granit und Wald (20.05km), went the way of Tanak as the Hyundai driver repeated the stage win from the morning pass.

The stage was mostly dry, unlike the morning, but there were still a few “sketchy” damp patches according to Tanak. The 2019 world champion’s effort was 3.4s faster than rally leader Ogier’s, which reduced the Toyota driver’s lead to a mere 1.1s.

Evans also pushed hard on the dirty road, matching Ogier’s time to remain poised in third overall.

Resigned to the fact that the gap to lead group was too large to claw back, Neuville delivered a steady run to clock the fourth-fastest time ahead of Katsuta, Pajari, Mikkelsen and Munster.

Katsuta did have 16 seconds added to his overall time after he was found to have exceeded the speed limit by 8km/h through the virtual chicane in the morning pass through the test.

Ogier responded to Tanak’s push in stage 13 (Beyond Borders, 24.33km) by winning the test and crucially taking three seconds out of his Hyundai rival. The road was much drier compared to the morning pass.

«We had to react, Ott was fast in the previous, we had to be fast on this. It is a drier road, so we have to be better on it,” said Ogier.

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

Neuville was Ogier’s nearest rival on the stage, 0.9s adrift, as the WRC points leader focused on bringing the car home, as both Tanak and Evans dropped time to Ogier.

“In the dry conditions, a lot of markings have improved, I had a bit of hesitation in there. I should learn to ignore what my old man [father, Gwyndaf Evans] says sometimes!” Evans said. “He’s doing my gravel notes, you have to take everything with a pinch of salt but it’s not always that easy to do.”

Ogier managed to pull further clear of Tanak on the final stage of the day after eclipsing the Hyundai driver’s time by 1.1s, with Evans two seconds adrift of the pace to set up an intriguing three-way fight for the victory on Sunday.

In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin opened up a 1m50.8s lead over Filip Mares, while Yohan Rossel’s championship hopes are all but over after a mistake in the morning left him 11th in class and 15m40.7s in arrears.

The rally will conclude after four Sunday stages comprising of 54.04km.

World Rally Championship title favourite Thierry Neuville went off the road in stage 11 twice to hand Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier the lead at the Central European Rally.

The Hyundai driver’s lead came under pressure on Saturday morning from team-mate Ott Tanak before Neuville relieved the pressure.

However, two mistakes in the final stage of the loop dropped the championship leader to fourth, 33.6s behind new rally leader Ogier. 

Tanak, whom Neuville needs to outscore by two points to seal the world title this weekend, moved to second, 4.6s adrift, with Toyota’s Elfyn Evans fourth [+8.3s]. Takamoto Katsuta [+1m02.4s], Sami Pahari [+1m49.9s] and Gregoire Munster [+2m51.0s] rounded out the top seven.    

M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux retired from the day’s action after stage 10.

Challenging wet and foggy conditions welcomed the crews for Saturday’s first stage in Germany (Grant und Wald, 20.0km), which triggered plenty of drama.

Andreas Mikkelsen was the first to tackle the conditions after rejoining the rally having crashed out on stage five yesterday. The Hyundai driver suffered a slow speed spin on his way through the test he described as “very tricky”. 

Andreas Mikkelsen, Torstein Eriksen, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

M-Sport’s Fourmaux, who felt there was something wrong with his car on Friday, was fortunate to continue after a wild moment when he ran wide onto a large grass run-off that resulted in his Puma sliding into trees. 

Luckily, he was able to continue, reporting that an intermittent front differential issue was to blame for the off.

“We have a huge issue on the front differential that we realised on the road section, I have no drive on the front, it is like driving a rear wheel drive all the time. As soon as there is dirt [on the road] it is hard to get it to go straight. It is undrivable,” said Fourmaux, who now had the use of his hybrid unit following yesterday’s failure. 

WRC2 driver Oliver Solberg suffered a similar moment at the same corner moments later but was able to avoid running into the trees. 

The tricky conditions were however tamed by Tanak, who produced a blistering effort to win the stage by 3.9s from Ogier to move ahead of the Toyota driver into second overall. 

“The car feels better today than yesterday but it is extremely demanding conditions out there,” said Tanak.

Rally leader Neuville opted for a steady approach in the slippery conditions that resulted in a time seven seconds slower than team-mate Tanak. Neuville’s rally lead had been cut to 0.8s over Tanak. 

The pressure on Neuville’s was slightly relieved in stage 10 (Beyond Borders 24.33km) as Tanak surprisingly dropped time through the test that straddled the Austrian and German border.

Tanak was 7.2s slower than the pace set by Elfyn Evans, who hauled himself back into the victory fight thanks to an impressive drive in difficult-to-judge damp conditions. Evans’ effort left the Toyota driver 10.1s behind rally leader Neuville. 

Neuville continued to stick to his plan in the challenging conditions, completing the stage without issue, 2.3s slower than Evans. Neuville was 1.1s slower than Ogier, who jumped ahead of Tanak back into second overall. At the end of the stage, Neuville actually increased his rally lead to 2.2s over Ogier.

There was further drama for Fourmaux who endured two off-road excursions. The Ford driver survived a first run onto grass but the second resulted in an impact to the rear of his Puma that necessitated a wheel change.

Fourmaux was able to reach the stage end but the damage to the rear of the car was too severe to continue. 

Team-mate Munster was also fortunate to continue without a stoppage after clipping a kerb with his left rear wheel. On the next test, he endured a brief run into a field that cost him valuable seconds. 

Munster wasn’t the only driver to find the grass in stage 11 (Schardinger Innviertel, 17.35 km) as Katsuta ran wide at right hander that left his Toyota sliding onto the run-off, before returning to the asphalt.

Grégoire Munster, Louis Louka, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Rally leader Neuville was the next to find the grass as the drama ramped up another level. The Hyundai driver ran wide at a left-hander and ran onto the grass and into a 360 spin. 

After recovering from the mistake an optimistic pacenote led to another off that cost the championship leader even more time. Neuville was able to spin the car on the grass but became briefly stuck in a ditch while trying to get back onto the road.

Ogier inherited the rally lead while winning the stage in the process by 0.1s from Evans.

In WRC2, Yohan Rossel’s title hopes evaporated after a mistake on stage nine cost him more than 14 minutes. Rossel’s team-mate Nikolay Gryazin maintained his rally lead of the class ahead of the afternoon’s stages.

Thierry Neuville extended his Central European Rally lead over Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier to edge another step closer to sealing a maiden World Rally Championship title.

Neuville produced an impressive drive through six tricky asphalt stages held in the Czech Republic to increase his advantage over the eight-time world champion to 6.4s.

The Hyundai driver took the rally lead in stage five, the third test of the day, and was able to make the most of starting first on the road to lead an event that could decide the world championship, with Neuville needing only to outscore Ogier by 10 points and Hyundai’s Ott Tanak by two points to clinch a maiden world title this weekend.

Tanak struggled to find the ideal set-up, ending Friday in third [+7.8s] ahead of Toyota’s Elfyn Evans [+15.1s] and the returning Takamoto Katsuta [+38.6s].

Rally1 rookie Sami Pajari [+1m28.2s] and M-Sport-Ford duo Adrien Fourmaux [+1m33.4s] and Gregoire Munster [2m27.4s] rounded out the top eight. Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen crashed out of the rally after clattering into a fence in stage five, having held sixth position.    

A third pass through the Klatovy, 11.78km test kicked off the afternoon before crews headed to a remote service. 

The stage win went to Katsuta who managed to navigate what had become a very dirty road, 0.4s faster than rally leader Neuville.

Takamoto Katsuta, Aaron Johnston, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: M-Sport

“I enjoyed it a lot, tough conditions but I was confident to push,” said Katsuta. 

Ogier was a second adrift of Katsuta as the Frenchman’s deficit to Neuville grew to 3.3s.

Tanak also dropped time with Estonian reporting that he was still “dreaming” of a good set-up on his i20 N. 

However, he was faring much better than Fourmaux as he tried to tame his Ford Puma with the added disadvantage of a malfunctioning hybrid unit.

“It is very frustrating honestly, I try my best but the car is so hard to drive, under braking the car is moving a lot. We are trying many things in the road section and it’s not working,” said Forumaux.

It didn’t get much better for the Frenchman after the remote service as the shock suffered by his hybrid unit from a jump landing was too severe and it was unable to be reset for the final two stages. Set-up tweaks made in service did at least improve the handling to some extent.

Neuville claimed his first fastest time of the day after winning stage seven (Strasin, 26.69km). 

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

The second pass through the longest stage of the rally was much drier than anticipated as the Belgian clocked a time 0.6s faster than Evans, who wished he’d opted for hard-compound tyres. 

Tanak appeared to have made some progress with the set-up of his i20 N to post the third fastest time, while Ogier was surprised to drop 3.6s.

“We are just not fast enough, it was a clean stage but we are missing a bit of pace. The car feels nice to drive but we have to check,” said Ogier, who was 1.2s faster than Katsuta.

The fourth Toyota driven by Pajari had a brief run-in with a hedge but successfully reached the stage end faster than the struggling Fords of Fourmaux and Munster.

Light drizzle affected the final stage of the day (Sumavske Hostice 2 16.85km) to further elevate the difficulty of the technical test.

Ogier was however able to respond to the time loss from the previous stage by setting the pace. The Toyota driver was 0.5s faster than Neuville to cut the lead to 6.4s.

“l’m happy to be at the end. It is easy to make a mistake and I knew the only thing that was important to us was to make it to the end,” said Neuville.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Evans lost ground on the top three after what he described as “a bit of funny feeling” towards the end of the stage that pushed him 7.3s shy of third-placed Tanak.

In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin completed the six stages with a 3.1s lead over Oliver Solberg, who is not scoring points this weekend. 

Yohan Rossel’s title hopes took another hit after a wild moment in the final stage. The Frenchman needs to win the class to keep his championship alive, but ended the day 1m36.7s behind Gryazin.