Thierry Neuville’s hopes of clinching his first FIA World Rally Championship title on the Central European Rally took a major hit after a dramatic Saturday morning noticed the Hyundai ace fall from first to fourth total as Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier (above) moved into the lead on Saturday’s second leg.
The Belgian had made a near-perfect begin on the all-asphalt, multi-country occasion, main by 6.4s in his i20 N Rally1 after Friday’s opening leg within the Czech Republic. However on the penultimate day of the penultimate spherical of the 2024 WRC season, he suffered not one, however two expensive off-road excursions throughout the span of a minute.
Simply yards after recovering from a primary spin in the course of the morning’s second stage, the 15.12-mile, German-Austrian border-straddling Past Borders 1 take a look at, Neuville discovered himself large on the grass once more. The second off proved notably expensive as he struggled to extract his automobile from a concrete drainage ditch and misplaced almost 40s.
Two time-consuming off-road moments look to have thwarted Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville’s likelihood of sealing his first WRC crown on the penultimate spherical. Jaanus Ree/Crimson Bull Content material Pool
Eight-time WRC champ Ogier discovered himself again within the lead for the primary time since Friday morning, however the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver had Ott Tanak’s Hyundai scorching on his heels. Tanak, who’d briefly headed Ogier after the opening stage of the day, claimed two quickest instances, in contrast with Ogier’s three, and trails the Frenchman by 5.2s heading into Sunday’s four-stage ultimate leg.
In the present day’s occasions have made it more and more possible that the championship will probably be determined on the season-ending Rally Japan subsequent month. Based mostly on Saturday’s provisional factors haul (that are solely locked in on completion of the occasion), Neuville has surrendered eight to Ogier and three to Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, who at the moment sits 25.8s forward of him in third place.
Crucially, he’s misplaced 5 factors to teammate Tanak, his closest championship rival, however wanted to outscore the Estonian by two to safe the title this weekend.
Ott Tanak holds second after Saturday’s leg, that means the Hyundai ace may take his long-shot WRC title possibilities to the season finale. Jaanus Ree/Crimson Bull Content material Pool
“There may be disappointment, for positive, however the rally isn’t over and tomorrow is an thrilling day,” Neuville stated. “We paid the value. It was positively a mistake within the recce with the tempo notes. The observe was too quick, and I’m a bit upset about that, however it’s what it’s.”
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta trailed Neuville by 52.0s in fifth, the Japanese driver’s trigger not helped by the 16-second time penalty he incurred on the primary stage of the day. He exceeded the goal velocity in a digital chicane space by 8km/h (5mph) and was penalized by 2s per km/h in consequence.
Sixth on the in a single day halt went the best way of Katsuta’s fellow Toyota pilot Sami Pajari, the Finn having fun with the expertise of his first asphalt begin in a Rally1 automobile.
M-Sport Ford’s Gregoire Munster held seventh total, however it was a disappointing day for his teammate, Adrien Fourmaux, who retired his Puma Rally1 after the day’s second stage with a entrance differential challenge that compromised his automobile’s dealing with, main to 2 journeys off-road.
In WRC2, the second tier of worldwide rallying, Yohan Rossel’s WRC2 title ambitions took a heavy blow, however his DG Sport Competitors Citroen teammate Nikolay Gryazin loved one other dominant day.
Citroen C3 driver Nikolay Gryazin continues to carry a wholesome WRC2 lead. In distinction, teammate Yohan Rossel has seen his class title possibilities dashed… McKlein/Motorsport Photos
Rossel started the penultimate spherical of the season properly conscious that solely a victory can be sufficient to maintain his championship hopes alive, however his rally started to unravel from the get-go. A damaged wheel after an tour on Thursday, adopted by a lackluster run by Friday, left him languishing far down the order.
Saturday turned out to be much more irritating for the Frenchman when he slid his Citroen C3 off the street on the opening stage, damaging the rear suspension. Though Rossel and co-driver Florian Barral managed to make repairs, the 14-minute time loss successfully ended their title problem.
Rossel’s misfortune leaves solely two drivers within the WRC2 title struggle: Oliver Solberg and Sami Pajari. Neither are scoring WRC2 factors this weekend. Solberg is utilizing CER to realize asphalt expertise and at the moment sits second quickest of the Rally2-spec machines, however has already accomplished the maximum-allowed seven rounds this season. The Swede at the moment leads the collection, however should wait till the Rally Japan finale to see whether or not Pajari, who’ll return to his Rally2-spec GR Yaris for his seventh counting occasion, can higher his rating.
Sunday’s finale is made up of two runs by the 7.56-mile Knaus Tabbert Am Hochwald take a look at, plus two by the 9.24-mile Passauer Land stage The second blast by the latter kinds the rally-closing, bonus points-paying Wolf Energy Stage. Can Neuville dominate the ultimate leg and claw again a few of his benefit within the title race, or will he play it secure and goal for sealing the deal in Japan?
WRC Central European Rally, positions after Leg Two, SS14
1 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h10m12.7s
2 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +5.2s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +14.0s
4 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +39.8s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m31.8s
6 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m07.3s
7 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m22.7s
8 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroen C3 – WRC2 chief) +7m39.6s
9 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 – non-points) +8m10.6s
10 Filip Mares/Radovan Bucha (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +9m30.4s
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