Thierry Neuville is well on his way to winning the Central Europe Rally, the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) season. Similarly, with four stages to go, Kalle Rovanperä has everything to become champion tomorrow.
This afternoon, the challenge of mixed weather conditions made tire choice difficult. It started with Stage 12 (Schärdinger Innviertel 2), where Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) was the fastest, 1.5s ahead of Neuville (Hyundai). Ott Tänak (M-Sport Ford) followed, while Takamoto Katsuta and Rovanperä (Toyota) tied for fourth and fifth. After Elfyn Evans’ (Toyota) withdrawal this morning, the Finn practically secured the title and opted for a lower-risk and more relaxed approach.
Stage 13 took the drivers back to the Mühltal stage, where Ogier set the pace again – this time just a tenth of a second ahead of Tänak. With the third fastest time, Neuville strengthened his overall lead – Rovanperä could only manage sixth, behind Katsuta and Teemu Suninen (Hyundai).
The day ended with Stage 14 (Knaus Tabbert Bayerischer Wald), where Rovanperä was the fastest, 0.5s ahead of Neuville. The Belgian now has a 26.2s lead over the Nordic driver in the rally. Tänak is in third place, despite going off the road, and remains on the podium. He is roughly half a minute ahead of Ogier, who had more difficulties after winning the previous two stages and finished fifth. Katsuta, third in Stage 14, is fifth overall.
Gus Greensmith (Skoda) started the afternoon leading WRC2 in Stage 12, before Emil Lindholm (Skoda) took control in the next two stages to solidify his lead. He is now 20.9s ahead of Nicolas Ciamin (Skoda), while Erik Cais (Skoda) remains in third. In the WRC2 Challenger, Ciamin leads with a 2.6s margin over Cais. Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda) was third in the category but had issues in Stage 14, and now Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Skoda) occupies that position. In WRC3, Filip Kohn is the only one currently competing.
Top ten overall after Stage 14:
