Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) led the Central European Rally at the end of the second day on Friday, in an ideal position to win his first WRC world championship title at the end of this event on Sunday.
On dry roads during the day but wetter in the evening, the Belgian, second the evening before after the first two specials, took the lead from Frenchman Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) at the end of the 5th qualifying session on Friday morning. He then steadily increased his lead to bring it to 6.4 seconds after the 8th and final special stage of the day.
“It’s easy to make a mistake and the only important thing for us is to finish. The rain started to fall at the end and it was pretty greasy in some places but we played it safe.”underlined the Belgian pilot.
Ogier even found himself under threat from another Hyundai driver, Estonian Ott Tänak, who was only 1.4″ behind him. “We’re just not going fast enough. It was a good stage but we lack speed. We have to see why, even if the car is good to drive”declared the eight-time French world champion at the finish of the 7th special… and before setting the best time in the next one.
Tänak, WRC world champion in 2019, must prevent Neuville from finishing the rally more than two points ahead of him if he wants to maintain his chances of being crowned again at the final round in Japan in November.
The other Toyotas in ambush
Hyundai and Toyota are also battling for the manufacturers’ world championship, with the South Korean ahead of the Japanese by 17 points heading into this rally.
In the absence of Kalle Rovanperä, the outgoing double world champion who is only playing a partial season this year, Toyota is mainly counting on Ogier to score points for the brand. The other Toyota drivers, Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta, were in 4th and 5th positions on Friday evening, respectively 15.1 and 38.6 behind leader Neuville.
But everything is far from over. Rain could intensify on Saturday as competitors leave the Czech Republic and enter Germany, with the event straddling these two countries and also Austria. Additional points will also be scored on Sunday in addition to those awarded for the results in the final classification of the rally.
