Ogier led the Central European Rally on Thursday evening after two difficult special stages in the Czech Republic, nine tenths of a second ahead of Neuville.
The penultimate round of this year's FIA World Rally Championship began with a spectacular kick-off ceremony at Prague Castle. Czech President Petr Pavel sent the cars on their way. At the beginning of the Three Countries Rally, the participants then performed two difficult tests on the asphalt south of the capital. In the end, the difference between the top five drivers was just 2.1 seconds.
Toyota ace Ogier won the short and steep Velká Chuchle super stage on the outskirts of Prague. Klatovy's third-best time on the night stage was enough to stay ahead of championship leader Neuville in the Hyundai. His teammate Andreas Mikkelsen is close behind.
“It was very slippery, everything was fine, but nothing special,” Ogier said on opening day. “That's often the case on Thursdays, and tomorrow there will definitely be a lot of action.”
Neuville, who won the world championship title in the Central European Rally, had to absorb the moment of shock. In SS1 he hit a bale of straw and damaged the body of his Hyundai. To secure the championship, the Belgian must score two more points than his teammate Ott Tänak, and he must also ensure that he does not lose more than ten points to Ogier and 15 points to Elfyn Evans.
“I lost the aerodynamic parts on the right front due to a stupid collision with a bale of straw. This will probably hold me back a bit tomorrow. I'm not happy with the situation,” Nouvel sighed.
Friday's stage includes two remote service stations in the Czech city of Janowice nad Olavo, but according to the regulations, the car's body cannot be modified during these stops.
Takamoto Katsuta celebrated a fine return to Toyota after being benched in Chile. After an impressive second-fastest time in SS1, he dropped to fourth after SS2, but finished the day just 0.3 seconds behind Mikkelsen. Tänak finished fifth by another tenth of a second, while Adrien Fourmaux completed the top six in his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1.
Elfyn Evans, Sami Bajari and Gregoire Münster took the next three places, while Oliver Solberg rounded out the top ten. The Swede is competing for overall victory in Rally 2 with his Skoda Fabia RS, having already participated in the maximum seven races in the World Rally Championship 2.
There was drama for Johan Rosell, one of Solberg's main rivals for this year's WRC2 title. The Frenchman must win this rally to stay in contention for the title, but he arrived at the finish line with a damaged rear wheel on his Citroën C3 Rally2 and lost about half a minute. Rosell's teammate Nikolai Gryazin therefore led the category ahead of Philippe Maris.
Rising talents from the Beyond Rally women's driver development programme, Lyssia Baudet, Suvi Jyrkiäinen and Claire Schönborn, made their WRC debut in identical Ford Fiesta Rally3 cars in the WRC3 class. Baudet impressed early and set the fastest time of the trio on the night stage, 1.2 seconds ahead of Schoenborn.
The rally continues on Friday, as the crews await six more tough tests on Czech asphalt.
Order for Thursday:
1. Ogier/Landais (France) Toyota 7m50.6s
2. Nouvelle/Wedig (Belgium Hyundai +0.9 w
3. Mikkelsen/Eriksen (Norway) Hyundai +1.7s
4. Katsuta/Johnston (Japan) Toyota +2.0 seconds
5. Tanak/Järvioja (Estonia) Hyundai +2.1 seconds
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