Hyundai’s Ott Tanak has won the Central European Rally in dramatic circumstances to ensure the World Rally Championship title fight will be decided at the Japan season finale next month.
The 2019 world champions, Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja, were effectively handed the victory after rival Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier crashed out on the penultimate stage having lost his overnight rally lead following a mistake earlier on Sunday morning.
Tanak ultimately secured his second win of the season by seven seconds from Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.
Championship leader Thierry Neuville missed an opportunity to seal a maiden world title after failing to outscore Tanak by two points after finishing third, 39.8s adrift.
Takamoto Katsuta finished an impressive fourth [+1m21.0s] in what was a strong return to the WRC after being benched for Chile. The Japanese topped the Super Sunday standings by 3.8s from Evans and won the Power Stage to claim a maximum 12 Sunday points.
Gregoire Munster equalled his career-best WRC finish in fifth [+3m41.9s] after a trouble-free run through the 18 stages in his Ford Puma.
The World Rally Championship drivers’ and manufacturers’ title fights will now go down to the wire in Japan
Toyota’s Sami Pajari had impressed on his first asphalt Rally1 start running in sixth position despite losing hybrid power on Friday. However, the Finn ran wide at a medium-left corner in stage 16 on Sunday which resulted in his GR Yaris rolling into retirement.
Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen also endured a difficult rally that had begun brightly after ending Thursday’s two stages in third spot. It soon turned sour when the Norwegian drifted wide in stage five and crashed into a fence that put him out of sixth position.
Mikkelsen rejoined the rally on Saturday but his Super Sunday hopes were dented by a puncture and hybrid failure.
In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin claimed victory while Yohan Rossel’s title hopes ended as the Frenchman had to win to keep the championship alive.
