For Kalle Rovanpera it’s almost done. The second WRC world title is almost one step away after the accident that put Elfyn Evans out of action on today’s SS11. The Toyota Racing driver, once he saw the Welshman off the road, suddenly slowed his pace to make sure he finished the rally. This will be enough for him, doing so in a good position, to become world champion for the second year in a row.
Meanwhile, in the wait that separates Rovanpera from the title, Thierry Neuville concluded the second stage of the Central European Rally at the top of the general classification with a 26″2 advantage over Rovanpera.
The Hyundai Motorsport driver inherited first position from Kalle at the end of SS11 and, in the three stages of the afternoon, increased his margin to almost half a minute. Rovanpera will be the only rival for victory this weekend, considering that Ott Tanak – third after Evans’ retirement, is one minute and 49 seconds behind him.
The Estonian from M-Sport was hit by a series of technical problems throughout the day. First a hybrid failure during the morning lap, then a hydraulic one during SS13, the penultimate stage of the day, and, finally, an error in the first kilometers of SS14 (mocked by the wet asphalt in a hairpin bend) caused it arriving at the end of the day frustrated.
The blows he gave with his right hand to the manual gear lever of his Ford Puma were eloquent, with which he vented his frustration over yet another bad day in 2023. This series of problems and errors led Sébastien Ogier to get closer to Tanak. There is now 31″1 between the two.
Fifth position overall for Takamoto Katsuta. As he has often done over the last few years, the Japanese was able to finish in the Top 5 without having done anything transcendental. It was enough for him to keep a decent pace and take advantage of the mistakes and misfortunes that affected other riders in front of him to climb among the leaders.
However, the Japanese will have to be careful tomorrow, because Teemu Suninen – sixth in the second Hyundai i20 N Rally1 in the standings – is just under 10″9 behind him. Good day for Gregoire Munster, seventh overall and set some times competitive in his second career outing at the wheel of a Rally1.
Adrien Fourmaux was by far the best driver of the Rally2 drivers. The Frenchman from M-Sport is in a magical moment which will then take him to Japan to race with Pierre-Louis Loubet’s Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid. Thanks to a series of competitive times, Fourmaux took the top spot in the category standings, putting him behind reigning WRC2 champion and leader of the WRC2 Central European Rally standings, Emil Lindholm.
The Hyundai Motorsport Finn is 6.5″ behind him, so the fight for first position is far from over. Nicolas Ciamin is third at the wheel of the first Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, but second in WRC2. Bad day for Nikolay Gryazin , who ended up out in today’s last test and has reopened the game for the title, which will probably be decided at the Rally Japan.
The second stage of the Central European Rally ends here. The penultimate event of the WRC will end tomorrow with the last 4 tests of this edition. SS15, tomorrow’s first test, will start at 08:15 Italian time.
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