Central European Rally 2024, Saturday’s Report.

The second full day of action would see the crews tackle 123km’s over six stages. Thierry held the overnight lead from Seb and Ott and less than eight seconds covered the top three, with Elfyn a further 7.3 seconds back in fourth.

First up was SS9 Granit und Wald 1 – 20.05 km and there was drama for Adrien and Alex as their Puma went off the road but still completed the stage. They had a problem with part of the transmission which had caused their off. At the front, Ott was fastest from Seb and Elfyn. Rally leader Thierry could only manage the fifth best time over 7 seconds slower than his teammate and now his lead was only half a second from Ott.

Onto SS10 Beyond Borders 1 – 24.33 km and Adrien continued to have problems, going off the road again and damaging his Puma. Meanwhile, Elfyn was fastest from Seb and Thierry. This time it was Ott that lost time, only going fifth fastest and with Seb only 1.2 seconds slower than his teammate the Frenchman moved ahead of his former M-Sport teammate and into second overall.

SS11 Schärdinger Innviertel 1 – 17.35 km the final morning stage and after Seb, Elfyn and Ott had completed, Thierry who would be last to complete the stage from the group of Rally1 cars and had a spin in a left hander and did a full 360-degree spin before getting back underway. Further on though, he then went wide on a corner and then got stuck rejoining the road in the drainage ditch. He would lose over 30 seconds and with that fell to fourth overall, behind the new top three. Also, to have problems was Takamoto as he went wide onto the grass and lost around ten seconds whilst rejoining on the slippery grass.

After the service break next up was SS12 Granit und Wald 2 – 20.05 km and Ott was fastest from Seb and Elfyn who set the joint second fastest time. Ott had reduced Seb’s lead to just 1.1 seconds.

The penultimate stage of the day, SS13 Beyond Borders 2 – 24.33 km and Seb was again fastest from Thierry and Ott. Twelve seconds covered the top three, whilst the former leader Thierry was 37.7 seconds behind and 25.7 from the podium.

The final stage then of the day, SS14 Schärdinger Innviertel 2 – 17.35 km and Seb was again fastest from Ott and Elfyn.

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day Two

1	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	2:10:12.7
2	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+5.2
3	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+14.0
4	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+39.8
5	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+1:31.8
6	S. Pajari	E. Mälkönen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+2:07.3
7	G. Munster	L. Louka	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+3:22.7
8	N. Gryazin	K. Aleksandrov	Citroën C3	+7:39.6
9	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Škoda Fabia RS	+8:10.6
10	F. Mares	R. Bucha	Toyota GR Yaris	+9:30.4

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I’m happy with my day. It’s been a very close fight for the whole day. The conditions were tricky this morning, but we were quite consistent. Ott was really fast on the opening stage on both passes and we had to react to that, especially this afternoon in order to rebuild our lead. We tried to push even more on the last two stages, but five seconds is not that much of an advantage so the same kind of approach will be needed tomorrow. So far, it’s been a good weekend, and the car is working well considering it’s our first asphalt rally for six months. With these positions after Saturday, we’re catching up in the manufacturers’ championship and let’s try to get some more points tomorrow.”

Elfyn Evans

“I think it’s been a solid day for us in more very mixed conditions. The morning especially was pretty difficult with a bit of fog bringing quite a lot of moisture onto the road, and this evolved between our route-note crews going through and us driving the stage. Therefore, we had to use our own judgement and it seems from the times that this wasn’t so bad. In the afternoon it was drier, but the road was quite polluted with mud, and we didn’t seem to cope with that so well. The margins were only small, but we lost a bit of ground there. Still, it’s been a strong day for the team, and we’ll keep fighting for more points tomorrow.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Today my target was again to have a clean day. This morning it went well except for this last stage, which was quite tricky with surface changes and bits of gravel on the road. I realised under braking for this one corner there was not enough grip, so I decided to go straight. It felt like a long time sliding on the grass, but we got back on the road without any issues. This afternoon the conditions were much drier and easier, and we could have a clean loop. Tomorrow I’ll aim for a good run through the first stages and see if I can do anything in the Power Stage, but my main job is to be there for the team.”

Sami Pajari

“It has been quite fun today. The conditions were a bit different from the morning to the afternoon as it was getting drier and more grippy, and that was a different kind of a challenge with new things to learn: when it’s like that you need to try and go for it and that’s quite demanding with a Rally1 car. The pace that the top guys are doing is so high, but it’s quite nice to see that we can be as close as we have been in our first rally on asphalt, and I have many ideas where I can improve. Already the improvement during the rally has been quite good and the confidence is growing nicely. I’m looking forward to doing four more stages with this car tomorrow.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“It has been quite an intense day. This morning I had one bad stage where I lost too much time, and the rhythm wasn’t good enough, however this afternoon the car worked really well on the first stage in what was the most difficult, dirty and challenging conditions. The next two were too clean and high grip, and my setup was just not racy enough to get the speed out of the car. We know from last year you want to prepare a forgiving car, and while it’s a bit different on the roads this year, the car is not bad to drive – it’s just missing the top speed in nice conditions. We all need to have a strong day tomorrow to bring home important points for the championship.”

Thierry Neuville

“I’m obviously very disappointed for what happened today, we paid the price for a mistake during the recce. It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is. We didn’t expect to be fighting for the lead this weekend; we came here with the target of finishing the rally, however we were in a situation yesterday where we were in a close battle with all the title contenders as well as for important manufacturers’ points. We had to drive fast, and we did what we could today. Tomorrow, we need to try and take as many extra points as possible, so we go into Japan with a comfortable lead. The stages look quite interesting – hopefully they will be drier and less tricky than today.”

Andreas Mikkelsen

“Today we worked a bit on the setup of the car to prepare for Super Sunday. We had very different conditions on the second loop; it was much drier, which required some changes. Overall, we had a good, clean loop. We stayed away from taking big risks so for sure there is still time to gain, but I don’t feel that I am too far away. We tested some things on the car, some of which worked well, so we are going in the right direction, but we know we have one more gear for tomorrow. I want to contribute to the team’s manufacturers’ fight, so we will wake up with a fresh mind and give it our best.”

Oliver Solberg

“We softened the car for the afternoon,” he said. “That made quite a big difference. It gave me more confidence and grip. I should have taken this set-up this morning, but it’s all about experience. I haven’t competed on Tarmac for nine months, so I was a little bit out of practice!

“The stages have been a lot of fun again today – that last one was super-nice. This morning was quite tricky with conditions changing a lot, it was easy to get caught out. Hopefully it will stay a bit drier through Sunday, but I have a good feeling for the set-up now.

“Let’s see what happens – but again the number of fans and the enthusiasm they are having out there has been really cool.”

Sunday

The final day of the rally will see the crews tackle 54km’s over the final four stages. Will there be another sting in the tail, or can Seb hold on for victory?