Onto the second day of the rally and with 103km’s over six stages the crews had an interesting challenge ahead of them. Four of the stages were run in Czech Republic with the first and last stages in Germany. Seb of course was leading Kalle by just six tenths of a second coming into Saturday’s action.
First up was SS9 Made in FRG 1 – 14.30 km and Kalle was fastest from Ott and Seb. The Finns pace took him ahead of his teammate and into the lead. There was some drama in the early part of the stage as Greg had a spin.
Into SS10 Keply 1 – 21.95 km and Kalle took another fastest time from Elfyn and Ott. There was big drama for Seb and Vincent though. Just before 17 or so kilometres the car understeered on a right-hander before hitting a bank on the left-hand side of the road, then colliding with a small tree which then spun the car 180 degrees, the result of which meant the Yaris was damaged on the left-hand side with the front wheel and suspension pulled out. He was frustrated, angry and out for the rest of the day. The team would need to check the car when it arrived back at the service to be sure they could restart on Sunday. Also having a moment was Greg, although at least they were able to continue.
The final morning stage then before the tyre fitting zone and Takamoto was fastest from Ott and Kalle. Elfyn was fourth fastest and lost a little bit of time to Ott as the Estonian moved a little closer to passing the Welshman.
After the break, SS12 Keply 2 – 21.95 km was next and Ott was fastest from Kalle and Elfyn. There was a position change as Ott moved ahead of Elfyn and into second place. Further back Greg was showing some good pace setting the seventh best time even ahead of Sami in this one. His teammate Josh was continuing to run well inside the top ten, holding eighth position.
Onto the penultimate stage then, SS13 Klatovy 2 – 15.57 km and Takamoto was fastest again from Ott and Sami. Elfyn set the fifth best time, actually faster than the rally leader with Kalle only able to set the sixth best time. He remained firmly in charge though with the lead now 38.2 seconds to Ott.
It was back then into Germany for the final stage of the day, SS14 Made in FRG 2 – 14.30 km just as the sun was setting. Thierry set the early pace which even his teammate Ott could not beat whilst Takamoto was third quickest. Elfyn lost more time to Ott as he set the seventh best time, the gap now having grown to 8.4 seconds between them.
Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.
Classification after Day Three
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Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Kalle Rovanperä
“It’s been a good day for us. We had a really good and tight fight going on with Seb and it’s never easy against him. It was not nice to see what happened to him, and the best thing is that he and Vincent are both OK. After that we just had to focus on our own job and I think we did pretty well, as there was a lot of dirt coming onto the road with every car. We still kept a good pace and rhythm and enjoyed the driving without taking any risk. Tomorrow will be a big day at this point of the season, with four of us who need all the points we can get. We also have the rally win to secure, so it won’t be easy, but we’ll try our best.”
Elfyn Evans
“It’s been an OK day but I’m naturally not happy with the pace that we were able to show, especially this afternoon. We were pushing but not really able to deliver the pace, and we haven’t been at the level that I want to be at. We tried to change some things on the car during the day, but it didn’t necessarily go in the right direction. So we need to try and find out why tonight and have another go at it tomorrow, with a lot of points available.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“It’s been a good day overall. I can’t be fully happy, as I lost quite a bit of time on the second stage this morning. The conditions were very tricky in sections, and I was not really committed enough in those places. Otherwise, we could do two fastest times in Klatovy – things were working well in that stage. In the other stages too, the car feels good and when I’m pushing, the times are there so that’s a good sign. There is still a long Sunday to come, and I will try to keep pushing.”
Sami Pajari
“It has again been a tricky day. Like yesterday, I think we had some strong stage times and some that were not so great. So, there is plenty of learning to take from that, but I’m generally satisfied that we had no mistakes or issues and some steady pace, getting closer to the front. There are still quite many kilometres tomorrow, especially in the Power Stage, which is quite long, but they’re nice stages so I’m looking forward to them.”
Sébastien Ogier
“I knew that this second stage of the day would be the most difficult with the rain and the leaves on the road, but we were driving with a good rhythm and feeling. Unfortunately, we started to lose pressure from the front-left tyre close to the end of the stage. Going through a fast right-hander, I couldn’t do anything, and we just understeered into the ditch and hit a tree. It’s frustrating but I don’t think I could have done anything differently and sometimes it’s just a matter of luck. The good news is that we should be able to restart tomorrow, and we will do our best to take the full 10 bonus points.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Ott Tänak
“Today was consistent, but we’re still missing a bit in the trickier conditions. We managed to improve the balance a bit to carry some more speed over the stages, but we’re still not able to match the fastest cars. I don’t know if tomorrow’s stages are going to suit us, but I’ll give it my best to take everything I can to protect the position we are in at the end of today.”
Adrien Fourmaux
“We found some direction today with Thierry, he found a slightly better setup than us, so we now understand what we are missing. We’ve found really good pace on the flat roads that we didn’t have in the Canaries, but now we’re struggling on the bumpier, greasier sections. I want to enjoy tomorrow, so we will take our learnings from today and go for it.”
Thierry Neuville
“We learned a lot today, there was definitely some improvement for us in the afternoon. Tomorrow is another day to maximise the information we can take from this weekend. Ott is feeling much more comfortable today, especially in the trickier places, so these are all steps forward. We will keep testing different setups tomorrow, we are already in Japan with our thinking – those few extra points may change the season.”
12 Round, Central European Rally
16-19 October
Photographer: Dufour Fabien
Wordwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Oliver Solberg
“We’d never driven this car with a cross-tyre set-up,” said Oliver. “When the rain was coming on the second stage this morning, we crossed wet tyres with the soft – it was interesting and really good experience. If I’m honest, maybe I was a little bit slow, but we learned some more and that’s what we’re here for.
“We’ve been working a lot with the set-up of the car as well, just discovering more and more on how to get the best out of it. From what we hear, the weather could be getting colder tonight, which could make the morning stages even more interesting tomorrow.”
Sunday
Well, the final day will see the crews take on 77km’s over four stages between Germany and Austria. This includes the longest stage run ever as the power stage on tarmac at 26.52km’s. The reports suggest the day will have cooler conditions in the morning. What will this mean for the crews and who will best master these conditions to take the higher number of points for the final day?
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