Kalle Rovanpera began to make the most of his best starting position on the second day of competition at the Central European Rally, snatching first place in the event’s general classification from Neuville and immediately widening the margin over his direct rivals by the success of the event and the Drivers’ world title.
The Toyota Racing talent scored three stage victories in the first 3 stages of today’s morning lap. The first served to close the margin that separated him from the Belgian from Hyundai Motorsport, while in the other two he opened a margin of close to half a minute against his rivals.
Rovanpera was lucky to enter first on a course not yet made slippery by the dirt brought onto the track by the numerous cuts that the cars make. Elfyn Evans, although he had a bad start yesterday, managed to recover and in turn overtake Neuville and take second place.
Of course, this position is not ideal, considering that his title rival, Kalle Rovanpera, is widely and firmly in the lead. Behind him Neuville resisted other assaults, keeping at least one Hyundai i20 N Rally1 in the podium area. There was little he could do for the Belgian: the GR Yaris numbers 69 and 33 were too fast also thanks to a better starting position than his.
Ott Tanak also did well to grit his teeth in fourth place, despite being far from finding the correct set-up to take advantage of the Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid that M-Sport entrusts him with. He closes the Top 5 with Takamoto Katsuta in the third GR Yaris Rally1, although very distant – over half a minute – from Tanak who precedes him.
A day to forget for two protagonists of this season: Sébastien Ogier and Esapekka Lappi. The 8-time world champion immediately ruined his race by damaging the front right rim in today’s first special. This forced him to arrive at the end of the stage on three wheels and not to push hard in the subsequent ones having only one spare tyre.
Esapekka Lappi, however, ended up off the road in SS5, the 23.40 kilometer Šumavské Hoštice 1, while he seemed to be the most credible rival of Rovanpera and Evans. The Finn from Hyundai Motorsport had found an excellent set-up and a particular feeling with his i20 on the slippery surface, but he perhaps risked too much, so much so that he ended up out at a very delicate moment in his season and career.
Teemu Suninen, although he didn’t shine, is sixth less than 6 seconds from the Top 5. But behind him there is a treacherous and surprising Gregoire Munster. The Dutchman is making his second career appearance at the wheel of a Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid and is fully fighting for a prominent position. 6 tenths behind him is Pierre-Louis Loubet, who is racing this weekend with Benjamin Veillas. The former co-driver from Ogier took over from Nicolas Gilsoul until the Chile Rally.
Emil Lindholm found himself in the lead of WRC2 after a morning lap full of twists and turns. First the retirement of Yohan Rossel, who went off the road which required an ambulance to intervene to check his condition and that of his co-driver, then the accident involving Andreas Mikkelsen. The Norwegian ruined not only the front part of the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 entrusted to him by TokSport, but also – if not above all – the left rear suspension which led him to give up the top of the class standings.
Behind Lindholm, who commands at the wheel of the first Hyundai i20 N Rally2, we find the Czech Erik Cais, however 18 seconds behind. Third place for the Polish Kajetan Kajetanowicz, but in full battle for second place.
The morning lap of the first stage of the Central European Rally ends here. The drivers were not able to take advantage of the mid-day service because it was not included in the official itinerary, but only of the Tire Fitting Zone to choose and get the tires for the afternoon lap. This will start this afternoon with SS6, the 13.66 kilometer Vlachovo Březí 2. The first car, the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 number 69 of Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen will enter testing at 2.32pm Italian time.
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