Double error from Neuville! Ogier, new leader

The favorite for the World Rally Championship title ,Thierry Neuville, goes off the road twice in the eleventh stage and leaves the lead to the driver of Toyota inside Central European Rally.

The pilot of Hyundai He found himself cornered on Saturday morning by his teammate Ott Tanak before Neuville released this pressure.

However, two errors in the final stage of the loop caused the championship leader to fall to fourth position, 33.6s behind the rally's new first-place finisher, Ogier.

Tanak, whom Neuville must beat by two points to secure the title this weekend, ranks second, 4.6 seconds behind, with Elfyn Evans of Toyota bedroom [+8.3s]. Takamoto Katsuta [+1:02.4s], [+1m49.9s] And Grégoire Munster [+2m51.0s] They completed the top seven places.

Adrien Fourmauxof M-Sport, He retired after the tenth special.

Saturday's first stage in Germany (Grant and Wald20.0 km) took place in difficult conditions of rain and fog, which triggered great drama.

Andreas Mikkelsen He was the first to face these conditions after rejoining the rally after suffering an accident in Friday's fifth stage. The pilot of Hyundai He suffered a low-speed spin during the test which he described as “very complicated”.

Andreas Mikkelsen, Torstein Eriksen, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Fourmaux, by M-Sportwho felt something was wrong with his car on Friday, was lucky to continue after a scare in which he went out onto a large grass clearing that caused his Ford Puma to slide into the trees.

Fortunately, he was able to continue, reporting that an intermittent front differential problem was the cause of the exit.

“We have a big problem with the front differential which we discovered on the stretch of road, I don't have front wheel drive, it's like always driving with rear wheel drive. As soon as there is dirt [en la carretera] It's hard to keep things going straight. It is unrollable,” said Fourmaux, who had his hybrid unit available this Saturday after Friday’s judgment.

He pilot of WRC2 Olivier Solberg He suffered a similar setback on the same corner moments later, but managed to avoid hitting the trees.

However, Tanak managed to tame the difficult conditions and pulled off an impressive move to win the stage 3.9 seconds ahead of Ogier and overtake the Toyota driver in the fight for second place overall.

“The car feels better today than yesterday, but the conditions are extremely demanding,” Tanak said.

Rally leader Neuville opted for a calm approach in slippery conditions, resulting in a time seven seconds slower than teammate Tanak. Neuville's lead in the rally had been reduced to 0.8 seconds over Tanak.

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

The pressure on Neuville eased slightly during stage 10 (Beyond the borders24.33 km), as Tanak surprisingly reduced the time throughout the event which took place between the Austrian and German borders.

Tanak was 7.2 seconds slower than the pace set by Elfyn Evans, who got back into contention for victory with an impressive ride in difficult wet conditions. Evans' time leaves the Toyota driver 10.1 seconds behind rally leader Neuville.

Neuville stuck to his plan in difficult conditions, completing the stage without issue, 2.3 seconds slower than Evans. Neuville was 1.1 seconds slower than Ogier, who passed Tanak and came home second overall. At the end of the stage, Neuville increased his lead to 2.2 seconds over Ogier.

Fourmaux suffered two exits from the course. The Ford driver survived a first outing on grass, but the second ended with an impact on the back of his Puma which forced him to change the wheels.

He was able to reach the finish of the stage, but the damage to the rear of the car was too great to continue.

His Munster teammate was also lucky to continue without stopping after hitting a curb with his left rear wheel. During the next test, he suffered a brief off-track incident which cost him precious seconds.

Munster wasn't the only rider to encounter grass on stage 11 (Schardinger Innviertel, 17.35 km), while Katsuta took a right turn which caused his Toyota to slide into the loophole, before returning to the asphalt.

Grégoire Munster, Louis Louka, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Rally leader Neuville was next to hit the grass and the drama escalated yet again. The Hyundai driver went into a left turn, plunged into the grass and spun 360º.

After recovering from his mistake, a perhaps slightly optimistic maneuver caused another off-track exit which cost the championship leader even more time. Neuville managed to turn the car onto the grass but briefly got stuck in a ditch as he tried to get back on the road.

Ogier inherited the rally lead and, in doing so, won the stage by 0.1 seconds over Evans.

In WRC2, the title hopes of Yohan Rossel They faded after a mistake in the ninth stage cost him more than 14 minutes. Rossel's teammate, Nikolai Gryazinretained the lead in the category before the afternoon stages.