The penultimate round of the 2024 World Rally Championship is upon us, with the second edition of the Central European Rally taking place across Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic this week.
It is the first all-asphalt round of the championship since the Croatia Rally, way back in April, and offers an opportunity for Thierry Neuville and Hyundai to clinch the WRC drivers’ and manufacturers’ crowns.
In the European fall, weather is bound to play a part on an event that featured cars from all three manufacturers on last year’s podium.
Here is all you need to know ahead of round 12 of the WRC.
Entry list
Total 44 crews
10 Rally1 crews
20 Rally2 crews (15 WRC2)
13 Rally3 crews (10 WRC3)
Rally1
Mikkelsen is back in the third Hyundai for the third all-asphalt round of the season
Like Chile last month, the field of Rally1 cars numbers 10 although there are a number of changes to the teams’ lineups for what is a very different event.
At Hyundai, Esapekka Lappi’s work is done for the year, and he steps back to allow Andrea Mikkelsen, the team’s nominal asphalt specialist, to return alongside Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak.
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta comes back into the fold after being benched for Chile. The Japanese driver is nominated to score manufacturers’ championship points ahead of the WRC season finale in his home country. Sami Pajari stays on board the fourth GR Yaris for his third Rally1 outing of the year, while Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans – both theoretically still title contenders – lead the team.
M-Sport will once again field a three-car entry of Ford Puma Rally1s. Alongside full-timers Adrien Fourmaux and Grégoire Munster, veteran privateer Jourdan Serderidis returns for his third start of 2024. This time, however, he will pilot a non-hybrid version, just as Mārtiņš Sesks did in Chile.
Rally2
Proven asphalt ace Rossel has a last chance to overhaul Solberg for the WRC2 crown
For a European Rally, the second-tier entry is surprisingly slim. It stands at 20 cars, with 15 of them chasing WRC2 points – one fewer than in Chile.
WRC2 leader Oliver Solberg completed his championship season with fourth place in Chile but will still contest CER in a non-scoring capacity in his Toksport-prepared Škoda Fabia RS Rally2.
Solberg’s nearest challenger Yohan Rossel (Citroën C3 Rally2), just 12 points down in the standings, will be gunning to better the Swede’s total. To do so, he will need to win, as he has 10 points to drop from a previous round. His team-mate Nikolay Gryazin is no longer mathematically in contention for the title but will look to end the season on a high, and was winner of the previous asphalt event in Croatia.
Pajari’s Rally1 chance means that he will not contest his seventh scoring WRC2 round until Rally Japan next month.
Two more Toksport Škoda entries come in the form of Josh McErlean and Gus Greensmith, although the latter won’t be scoring points on this event. He will instead aim to do team-mate Solberg a favor by beating Pajari in Japan. Fifth-seeded Kajetan Kajetanowicz is also Škoda-mounted.
The lone Ford Fiesta Rally2 in the field will be piloted by William Creighton, who completes his season looking to improve on a best finish to date of fifth in Latvia.
Only one Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 will cross the start ramp too, in the hands of Czech local Filip Mareš. He is joined on the entry list by countrymen Věroslav Cvrček and Petr Nešetřil, both in Fabias.
Joining veteran Armin Kremer as a home entry from Germany will be Marijan Griebel. Both are Škoda-powered, as is Polish ace Mikołaj Marczyk.
Rally3
ERC3 champion Kohn is among those competing in WRC3
With the Junior WRC and WRC3 titles already decided, only pride is on the line among the third-tier entrants.
The entry is headed by Mattéo Chatillon and his Renault Clio Rally3 as the French partnership looks to break its duck in the category having twice already finishing second – including on Croatia Rally’s asphalt stages.
Germans Hermann Gaßner Jr and Timo Weigert (who is not registered for WRC3) pilot the other two Clios in the field.
Otherwise the entry is entirely comprised of Ford Fiesta Rally3s. Czech locals Jan Černý (winner on the Monte Carlo Rally) and ERC3 dominator Flip Kohn will fancy their chances, while former circuit racer Tristan Charpentier and Polish teenager Hubert Laskowski could also be in the mix.
The three winners of the WRC’s Beyond Rally Women’s Driver Development Program, Lyssia Baudet, Suvi Jyrkiäinen and Claire Schönborn, will take up their prize drives on the event.
Itinerary
The Central European Rally’s second edition has much in common with its first, but also includes a significant amount of new mileage. The base remains in Germany but has moved to Karpfham, some 20 miles south-west of last year’s base at Passau, but still close to the border with Austria.
But the event again begins in the Czech Republic. The ceremonial start is in Prague’s Castle District on Thursday afternoon, and competitive action begins with the Velká Chuchle superspecial stage, familiar from last year. Thursday also includes a second stage – the first of three runs through the 7.3 miles of Klatovy, a much-extended linear version of last year’s unusual two-lap stage.
An overnight halt and remote service take place at Janovice nad Úhlavou before a full day’s running of nearly 70 miles in the Czech Republic on Friday. That begins with Klatovy’s second run, before taking in the longest stage of the rally, the 16.5-mile Strašín which shares much of its route with last year’s Zvotoky test albeit in the opposite direction.
Šumavské Hoštice comes next, a stage that returns from last year, but in shorter 10.5-mile form. Crews will face their third pass of Klatovy before returning to the remote service area for a late lunch. They will then repeat Strašín and Šumavské Hoštice before travelling to the rally base in Germany for overnight service.
Saturday has the most competitive mileage at some 76.7 miles and takes place in both Germany and Austria. It features a repeated loop of three stages, beginning with the all-new Granit und Wald which is around 12.5 miles long. The appropriately named Beyond Borders comes next, a 15-mile stage that begins in Germany and finishes in Austria. Its route is mostly new but uses some roads that formed part of last year’s Mühltal test.
Austria’s Schärdinger Innviertel is the shortest stage of the loop at 10.8 miles and is almost entirely new to the rally, with only a short section in common with last year’s stage of the same name. Crews will return to Karpfham for lunchtime service before repeating the loop in the afternoon.
Unlike last year, the rally stays in Germany throughout Sunday’s leg. Two passes of two stages make up 33.6 miles of action with no service. First up is the new Am Hochwald stage, before Passauer Land, a slightly shorter version of last year’s stage, which will again form the powerstage on its second pass.
