P1racenews AI automatic summary:
The fierce battle for the lead of WRC Central Europe Rally raged over Saturday’s six stages where Sebastian Ogier emerged at the end of the day with a 5.2 second lead over Ott Tänak with Elfyn Evans giving Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Manufacturers’ Championship hopes a boost in third. The overnight leader, Thierry Neuville suffered a […]
Overnight leader Thierry Neuville encountered a major setback in stage 11, where he spun his Hyundai i20 N, and later went off the road, getting stuck in a ditch, costing him nearly 40 seconds and dropping him from the lead to fourth overall. Neuville, aiming for his first WRC title, needs to outscore Tänak by two points, but with a 39.8-second deficit, his victory hopes seem distant for now. As Sunday’s four stages and 54km loom ahead, the outcome remains uncertain, as demonstrated by today’s dramatic turn of events in the WRC. Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari currently hold fifth and sixth positions, while Grégoire Munster follows in seventh. Adrien Fourmaux faced a spin in stage nine and later retired his Ford Puma due to a differential problem. In the WRC2 category, Nikolay Gryazin, piloting a Citroen, leads the pack, surpassing non-points scorer Oliver Solberg by 31 seconds, with Filip Mares and Miko Marczyk trailing in second and third places in this support class.
