Neuville leader and Mikkelsen, KO by accident

The favorite for the title in the World Rally Championship ,Thierry Neuvillehas exceeded of Toyotaand became leader of Central European Rally on Friday morning.

The pilot of Hyundaiwho has the chance to win his first world championship title this weekend, completed the morning's three slippery Czech asphalt stages 2.7 seconds ahead of yesterday's leader, Ogier.

Ott Tanak Hyundai remains third [+3.8s] in advance Elfyn Evans from Toyota [+6.3s]with Takamoto Katsuta [+19.1s], [41.6s], Adrien Fourmaux [+47.1s] And also among the top eight. The fifth stage was stopped prematurely when Andreas Mikkelsenfrom Hyundai, crashed and retired in sixth position.

The morning began with a second pass through the slippery Klatovy stage, which already took place in the dark on Thursday evening.

It was once again Ogier who set the tone during the 11.78 km test, this time with the advantage of daylight. The Toyota driver admitted it wasn't a “perfect run” due to the bumpy road.

However, the leader's time of the day was 2.3 seconds faster than that of his closest rival, Neuville, who entered the stage in first place.

Neuville was only able to partially repair the damaged front right wheel arch during Thursday's first stage with adhesive tape.

“I suffered a bit from understeer, but overall it was probably the easiest stage of the day,” said Neuville, who was 3.2 seconds behind the leader.

Katsuta was the rider who came closest to Ogier's time in the stage with an impressive 1.5-second effort on a road getting dirtier with each pass. The effort saw the Japanese driver finish third overall on his return to the WRC after not taking part in the Rally Chile.

Evans also climbed the standings, moving from seventh to fifth, behind Tanak, after clocking a time 2.2 seconds slower than Ogier.

Pajari, his rookie teammate, looked set to set a blistering time after matching Ogier's early lead times before a sudden failure in the hybrid left him 3.7 seconds behind.

Mikkelsen moved from third to seventh despite his trouble-free pass, while the Fords M-Sport de Fourmaux and Munster suffered from a lack of pace, consolidating the bottom of the standings on the stage.

Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

The conditions were more complicated in the fourth stage (Strasin, 26.69 km), with wet sections, light drizzle and fog banks.

Evans managed to control the inconsistent grip and set the pace, although the Toyota driver was unhappy with his time. However, his time was enough to place him third overall and close to within 0.8 seconds of rally leader Neuville.

Neuville was 1.6 seconds behind Evans during testing, but it was difficult for him to gain confidence.

“I had no feeling with the grip, I understeered a lot throughout the stage. There were a lot of grip changes throughout the stage and it was difficult for me to regain confidence afterwards,” Neuville said.

Tanak was third fastest in the test despite having problems handling his vehicle. i20N.

Meanwhile, rally leader Ogier saw his lead reduced to 0.3 seconds over Neuville after losing tenths of a second on a tight left-hander.

The failures of the hybrids made the history of the stage since Mikkelsen, Fourmaux and Munster joined Pajari, who had lost the use of his unit during the previous stage. Apparently, a hard landing after a jump triggered the trio's failures in the stage.

The absence of a hybrid hurt Fourmaux and Munster, who also had problems with the settings of their Ford Puma.

“In one jump we lost the hybrid. I have no feeling with the car, it's a nightmare,” Fourmaux said. “It's very difficult to drive. The stage is complicated but I don't like the car.”

Tanak won in the fifth stage (Sumavskee Hostice 1, 16.85 km) 0.3 seconds behind Neuville, but the latter's driving on difficult and inconsistent surface conditions allowed Neuville to overtake Ogier and take the lead in the rally.

Neuville, who survived a slight brush with a bench, took full advantage of his first outing on the road as the stage became increasingly muddy due to numerous cuts.

“Without a car in front, it's difficult to judge the grip. There were a few more cuts, so I put a little more dirt on the road, and I hope it works, but overall, it’s very delicate,” Neuville said.

Ogier conceded 3.3 seconds and part of the loss was attributed to an error in a cross that Katsuta later repeated.

Evans fell to fourth after experiencing grip problems, notably in a leaf section, and lost 6.1 seconds.

Apparently the slippery leaves influenced the red flag of the stage when Mikkelsen swerved into a field of leaves and crashed into a wooden fence. The impact caused significant damage to the front of his i20 N, but fortunately he and his co-driver Torstein Eriksen They escaped unscathed.

With the car partially blocking the road, the marshals had no choice but to stop the special.

In WRC2, Nikolai Grayazin He led the class before completing the three stages in the afternoon which will close the day on Friday.