Day 1
Ott Tanak claimed an early Central European Rally lead after winning the opening stage of the World Rally Championship’s all-new three-country event.
One of a few crews to opt for four soft tyres, Tanak took the spoils with a perfect run in front of a huge crowd.
Thierry Neuville then moved into the lead of the Central European Rally after claiming the second stage of the World Rally Championship’s newest event on Thursday.
Held in darkness, Neuville completed the two loops of the Klatovy test, 2.2s faster than Tanak to leap from third into the rally lead.
Championship leader Kalle Rovanpera was third on the stage, 2.9s in arrears, although the effort was enough to see the Finn climb to fourth overall, with eight-time world champion Toyota team-mate Sebastian Ogier ahead in third overall by a tenth of a second.
In fifth on the stage was Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen, ahead of M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet and Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta.
Title contender Elfyn Evans was ninth fastest on the stage as he shipped 7.8s following a costly overshoot at a right junction.
Evans, who needs to outscore team-mate Rovanpera to prolong the title fight to a deciding round in Japan, will start Saturday 10.7s away from the lead, sitting in eighth overall.
Day 2
Kalle Rovanperä appeared to be oblivious to Friday’s punishing conditions at Central European Rally as he stormed to a commanding 36.4-second lead over Thierry Neuville.
As it stands, Rovanperä is poised to claim his second-consecutive WRC title at this penultimate round of the season unless team-mate Elfyn Evans – who languishes 47.2sec behind him in third overall – can stage a remarkable comeback.
Neuville initially led after Thursday’s pair of super special stages but fell to third on Friday morning after struggling with his car’s set-up.
Also feeling at odds with his car’s handling was M-Sport Ford Puma man Ott Tänak, who ended a lonely fourth overall – 43.2sec adrift of Evans but with 56.4sec in hand over fifth-placed Toyota driver Takamoto Katsuta.
Sébastien Ogier’s hopes of winning his ‘home’ rally disintegrated early in the day when the Munich-based Frenchman limped through the opening stage with tyre damage caused by a broken wheel. He fought back to claim sixth, just 3.2sec ahead of Teemu Suninen.
Aside from Neuville, Suninen was the only other Hyundai driver remaining after his compatriot Esapekka Lappi crashed heavily from third overall on SS5.
Day 3
Thierry Neuville is in prime position to win the Central European Rally after opening up a commanding lead over Kalle Rovanpera, who is closing in on a second WRC title.
The Hyundai driver emerged from a dramatic Saturday with a 26.2s lead over Rovanpera, having started the day 36.4s adrift of the Finn.
Neuville claimed two stage wins across the morning before slashing the deficit to Rovanpera to 10.9s after the latter overshot a hairpin. The Belgian assumed the lead when Rovanpera switched into cruise mode after his title rival and Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans crashed out on stage 11.
With Rovanpera knowing Evans’s title hopes are all but over, he cruised through the afternoon allowing Neuville to open up a healthy lead.
M-Sport’s Ott Tanak ended the day in third, 1m49.1s followed by Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier (+2m20.2s) and team-mate Takamoto Katsuta (+2m47.9s).
Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen (+2m58,8s), Gregoire Munster (3m52.2s), Pierre-Louis Loubet (+9m05.8s), top Rally2 competitor Adrien Fourmaux (9m12.3s) and WRC2 leader Emil Lindholm (9m18.8s) completed the top 10.
Day 4
Neuville successfully guided his Hyundai i20N through Sunday morning’s asphalt stages as the Belgian increased his lead over Rovanpera to nearly a minute at the end of the event.
Rovanpera was afforded the luxury of only needing to realistically navigate today’s four stages to wrap up a second world title, which meant he could engage cruise mode.
M-Sport’s Ott Tanak maintained third ahead of Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier, Takamoto Katsuta, Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen and M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster.
Adrien Fourmaux who will be raced in the WRC1 class at Japan finished eight and won the WRC2 Category while his nearest rival in the programme Nicolas Ciamin claimed 9th in the Skoda. Pierre-Louis Loubet held onto 10th despite suffering a transmission issue.
