Classification SS11 Rallye Central Europe 2024

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HIGHLIGHTS

At the end of the loop, the conditions were still delicate with numerous grip changes and greasy ropes. Many drivers made mistakes and Thierry Neuville even made two mistakes in just a few meters. His second deviation in a field cost him more than twenty seconds, but could have been much more serious.

Author of the scratch for a tiny tenth ahead of Elfyn Evans, Sébastien Ogier thus takes the lead of the event, four seconds ahead of Tänak and eight over Evans. Only eighth in this special, Thierry Neuville falls to fourth place. Behind him, Takamoto Katsuta also took a field trip.

At a fairly slow pace so far this morning, Sami Pajari set an excellent time in this special, just three seconds from the scratch!

With a Ford Puma collecting problems from the start, Adrien Fourmaux retired on the link leading to this special. The Frenchman had touched the right rear in the previous stage. He started the day with a broken front transmission and lost the hybrid following the impact on SS9.

In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin remains untouchable ahead of Czech Filip Mares. Even though he doesn’t have much left to play for, Yohan Rossel keeps a very high pace and misses the scratch by a few tenths.

In WRC3, Mattéo Chatillon continues to have the perfect race so far, dominating the Czech Kohn for more than forty seconds. The Frenchman plays the place of vice-world champion against Jan Cerny.

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PILOT REACTIONS

A. Mikkelsen 9:33.0	It’s like ice, there was no grip at all.
J.Serderidis	It is a mixture of wet and dry. I think it will get worse as the passages progress. It’s a great special.
G.Munster 9:35.9	Sometimes the grip goes away suddenly. I lost a little time in the grass.
S. Pajari 9:27.4	Special clean, no problem.
T.Katsuta	Not bad. I was often surprised in several places. It was very difficult. I felt good, but I didn’t take any risks because I didn’t want to slip when braking. I felt like I had been on the grass for 10 minutes!
O. Thank you 9:24.9	Lots of surprises, which are difficult to spot from the first turn. Difficult to find the right balance.
E.Evans 9:23.9	I was a little less happy here, we made some changes to try to improve the feeling, I’m not sure it’s much better, but the car is fine.
S. Ogier 9:23.8	A little mid-special heat. We were told it would be complicated, but there were sections where there was grip and others where there was none. His (Neuville) loss of time is good news for us.”
T. Neuville 9:59.6	My notes were too fast, it’s a wide road. Obviously in the dry it would have worked, but my notes were too optimistic and the car never turned because it was too greasy, then we decided to go into a field and we got stuck. The spin was a spin, but the second one I couldn’t avoid. There was a way out, so I had to try. But we are here.
F.Mares	It was drier than expected
N.Gryazin	The grip seemed better to me and the information from the openers was good. The last part was like ice, it seemed wetter than live.
O. Solberg	The conditions are very complicated. I completely changed the car and it’s much better.