WRC – Neuville’s title bid postponed after eventful Saturday at Rally Central Europe
2024 Central European Rally – Saturday Report
Thierry Neuville’s hopes of winning his first FIA World Rally Championship at Rally Central Europe were dealt a major blow after he dropped from first to fourth on Saturday in a dramatic performance on Saturday morning.
The Belgian got off to a near-perfect start on Friday, leading by 6.4 seconds after the first full leg. But today, on the second day of the second round of the season, he was involved in not one, but two off-road accidents in less than a minute.
As soon as he recovered from the first spin of this morning’s Beyond Borders stage across the German-Austrian border, Neuville was back on the grass. The second start was particularly costly as he lost almost 40 seconds after struggling to get his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID out of a concrete ditch.
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 HYBRID star Sébastien Ogier was back in the lead for the first time since Friday morning, but the eight-time world champion was close behind Ott Tänak’s Hyundai. Tänak, who briefly led Ogier after the day’s opener, set two benchmark records to Ogier’s three and trailed the Frenchman by 5.2 seconds heading into Sunday’s stage four final.
Today’s events increase the likelihood that the winner will be decided at FORUM8 Rally Japan next month. Neuville, who had provisional points on Saturday, gave up eight points to Ogier and three points to Toyota’s Elphin Evans, who is currently third, 25.8 seconds ahead of him.
Crucially, he lost five points to his closest championship rivals Tänak and needs to edge the Estonian by two points to secure the title this weekend.
“Obviously there is disappointment, but the rally is not over and tomorrow is an exciting day.” Neuville said. “We paid the price. There were certainly mistakes made in scouting the pace notes. “I was a little disappointed that the notes were too fast, but that’s it,” he said.
Takamoto Katsuta was 52.0 seconds ahead of Neuville in fifth, with the Japanese driver not helped by a 16-second time penalty in SS9. He exceeded the target speed by 8kph in the virtual chicane area and was penalized 2 seconds per kph as a result.
Sixth place went to Katsuta’s fellow Toyota pilot Sami Pajari, while M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID hotshot Grégoire Munster finished eighth.
It was a disappointing day for Munster team-mate Adrien Fourmaux. He retired after SS10 with front differential problems that impaired the handling of his car, resulting in two off-road trips.
DG Sport Competition’s Nikolay Gryazin leads the WRC2 category by almost two minutes in the Citroën C3 of Czech driver Filip Mareš (Toyota GR Yaris), while Toksport WRT Škoda Fabia RS driver Oliver Solberg is ineligible for WRC2 points this weekend. . Ninth overall.
Sunday’s deciding leg will consist of two visits to the Knaus Tabbert Am Hochwald stage and the Passauer Land test. The second run of the latter forms the Wolf Power Stage from 13:15 local time.
