The Estonian driver took victory at the Central European Rally in dramatic circumstances and sent the definition of the 2024 WRC season title at Rally Japan. Ott Tanak and his co-pilot, Martin Jarveojathey won the victory after Sébastien Ogier fell in the penultimate stage after losing the lead during a mistake on Sunday morning.
Finally, that of Hyundai took its second victory of the campaign for about seven seconds Elfyn Evanswhile the world leader, Thierry Neuvillelost the opportunity to seal their first crown by failing to overtake the winner in terms of points, but finished third overall. The unique asphalt rally, which took place in the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria, started with France’s Toyota in the lead and increased its lead ahead of Friday’s six stages.
Taking advantage of a first start, the Belgian took the lead from the fifth stage and He widens the gap with Sébastien Ogier by six secondswhile Ott Tanaka was a second and a half behind, with Elfyn Evans still in the hunt, around fifteen seconds behind. On Saturday, when everyone traveled to German and Austrian territory, the roads were wet with fog, which created difficult conditions.
Thierry Neuville’s lead was reduced to eight tenths after Ott Tanak set a stunning time to win the ninth stage, prompting his director, Cyril Abiteboul will send you a message to warn you of the risks which he assumed in the middle of the fight for the manufacturers’ title against Toyota.
The Estonian’s pace allowed him to overtake Sébastien Ogier and place second, even if the positions swapped in the following special, where he was more cautious. The gap between the Belgian who led the world championship increased to two seconds over his French rival, before everything spiraled out of control in the eleventh stage.
Thierry Neuville spun entering the grass with his rear wheels, and while he then made another mistake, he found himself stuck in a ditch in which he lost half a minute, falling to fourth place. After taking the lead, Sébastien Ogier won two of the three afternoon stages to increase his lead. five seconds on Ott Tanaka and fourteen seconds on Elfyn Evans.
However, the final day started with problems for the Frenchman, who suffered a blockage and went straight into an intersection, giving the Estonian a two-second lead. The Toyota driver reduced the distance to a second and a half, before having a spectacular accident after hitting trees. in the penultimate special stage of the rally.
This ended his hopes of victory and damaged his team‘s bid for the constructors’ title, as he lost the 18 points he had provisionally won on Saturday, and those They went to Ott Tanak, while Elfyn Evans added 15 and Thierry Neuville took 13.. The Estonian took victory, but failed to score points in the Power Stage, although he reduced the Belgian’s lead in the championship to 26 units, while Hyundai still maintains a 21-point lead on Toyota.
Takamoto Katsuta He finished an impressive fourth in what was a strong return to the WRC after being on reserve at Rally Chile. The Japanese led the standings on Sunday almost four seconds ahead of Elfyn Evans and won the Power Stage to take a day-high 12 points.
Grégoire Munster He matched his career best result by placing fifth, after a trouble-free performance throughout the stages. On the contrary, his companion, Adrien Fourmauxhad rhythm problems on Friday and a front differential problem led him to make an error on Saturday, the second of which left him out, although he was able to come back on Sunday to score 6 points.
Sami Pajari impressed on his first Rally1 outing on asphalt and finished sixth despite losing hybrid power on Friday. However, the Finn went wide in a left turn towards the end, causing his GR Yaris to retire, while Andreas Mikkelsen He crashed into a fence, leaving him out of action Friday.
In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin took victory, while Yohan Rossel’s title hopes dwindled as the Frenchman needed to win to keep the championship alive.
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