WRC – Neuville’s title bid delayed after eventful Saturday on Central European Rally
2024 Central European Rally – Saturday report
Thierry Neuville’s hopes of clinching his maiden FIA World Rally Championship title at Central European Rally took a major hit after a dramatic Saturday morning noticed him fall from first to fourth on Saturday.
The Belgian had made a near-perfect begin, main by 6.4sec after Friday’s first full leg. Nonetheless, at this time – the penultimate day of the penultimate spherical of the season – he suffered not one, however two off-road incidents throughout the span of a minute.
No sooner had he recovered from the primary spin throughout this morning’s German-Austrian boundary-straddling Past Borders stage, Neuville discovered himself extensive on the grass once more. The second off proved notably pricey as he struggled to extract his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID from a concrete drainage ditch and misplaced practically 40sec.
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 HYBRID star Sébastien Ogier discovered himself again within the lead for the primary time since Friday morning, however the eight-time world champion had Ott Tänak’s Hyundai sizzling on his heels. Tänak, who had briefly headed Ogier after the opening stage of the day, claimed two benchmark instances in contrast with Ogier’s three and trails the Frenchman by 5.2sec heading into Sunday’s four-stage finale.
Right this moment’s occasions have made it more and more doubtless that the championship shall be determined at FORUM8 Rally Japan subsequent month. With Saturday’s provisional factors in hand, Neuville has surrendered eight to Ogier and three to Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, who at the moment sits 25.8sec forward of him in third place.
Crucially, he’s misplaced 5 factors to Tänak — his closest championship rival — and he must outscore the Estonian by two to safe the title this weekend.
“There’s disappointment for positive, however the rally is not over and tomorrow is an thrilling day,” Neuville mentioned. “We paid the worth. It was positively a mistake within the recce with the tempo notes. The observe was too quick, and I’m a bit disillusioned about that, however it’s what it’s.”
Takamoto Katsuta trailed Neuville by 52.0sec in fifth, the Japanese driver’s trigger not helped by the 16sec time penalty he incurred on SS9. He exceeded the goal pace in a digital chicane space by 8kph and was penalised by 2sec per kph because of this.
Sixth went the best way of Katsuta’s fellow Toyota pilot Sami Pajari, whereas M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID hotshot Grégoire Munster positioned eighth.
It was a disappointing day for Munster’s team-mate Adrien Fourmaux, who retired following SS10 with a entrance differential concern that compromised his automotive’s dealing with, main to 2 off-road excursions.
DG Sport Competitors’s Nikolay Gryazin led the WRC2 class by nearly two minutes in his Citroën C3 from Czech driver Filip Mareš (Toyota GR Yaris), with Toksport WRT Škoda Fabia RS driver Oliver Solberg – not eligible for WRC2 factors this weekend – slotting between them in ninth total.
Sunday’s deciding leg is made up of two visits to the Knaus Tabbert Am Hochwald stage, plus the Passauer Land take a look at. The second run of the latter types the Wolf Energy Stage from 13:15 native time.
