Four days, three countries, two Toyotas and one winner

Three countries, one king.

That was the story of last week’s Central European Rally. Perhaps that’s being a bit hard on Thierry Neuville – the Hyundai driver was a very worthy winner of the Passau-based Czech Republic-Austria-Germany-combo, but the reality was that Sunday afternoon belonged to Kalle Rovanperä. Second place was enough to deliver a successful title defense for the Finn.

And, actually, that really should be two kings: Kalle would have been lost without his wingman and co-driver Jonne Halttunen.

Here’s how four days, three countries, two Toyotas and one winner played out.

Leg one

As if it were in any doubt, the sniffer dog placing two paws on the hood of Andreas Mikkelsen’s Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 and taking a peak in the air vent probably sealed it. This was a big deal.

As one of the Czech Republic’s most recognizable and visited places, the area in front of Prague Castle is never quiet. Which made the decision to host the ceremonial start for the inaugural Central European Rally there all the more admirable. Now, we all know México’s the benchmark for a good place to start a round of the world championship and Prague was never going to rival Guanajuato for drama and action, but in terms of a super-impressive location, the castle was very hard to beat.

It was even more impressive when a bunch of blokes with sunnies and earpieces came along and parted the crowd like Moses and the Red Sea. Right on cue, and adding a stellar touch of the Jack Ryan to proceedings, Czech president Petr Pavel strode in.

Everything about Thursday’s start was right. Jan Štoviček, the man who runs Czech motorsport, did his country proud. And that was before the rally even got started.

There were, of course, concerns about the timetable attached to running a rally through three countries. It was never going to be the work of a moment and the miles were going to rack up.

Before we delve too deep into the story, it’s worth reminding ourselves of what the event meant. Tuesday and Wednesday were recce days. The crews then left the Passau service park in Germany and made the four-hour journey up to Prague, where most of them stayed on Wednesday night. Thursday morning they were up early to recce superspecials before they arrived into Prague Castle around midday for the start proceedings. After that, there were two stages on the road back south to Passau, where service began just before nine at night.

Friday was back out of Germany and north to the Czech stages, while the weekend was south in Germany and Austria.

In total, that was 1050 miles, 192 of which were competitive. That’s the longest liaison distance of the season, but far from the most miles in stage mode (220 on Safari).

Whichever way you cut it, it was a long way.

And right at the top of the journey came a run around a horse racing track in Prague’s outskirts. Winner last time out in Chile, Ott Tänak picked up where he left off at the top of the timesheets.

His stay in P1 was short-lived, however, as Thierry Neuville elbowed his soon-to-be-team-mate aside with a sublime run through the longer of Thursday evening’s two tests. The Belgian’s Hyundai i20 N Rally1 stopped the clock 2.2s faster than anybody – an impressive effort on a five-miler run in the gathering gloom.

Friday morning was where things got really interesting. The opening full day of competition ran exclusively in Czech Republic and in some horribly wet conditions. The talk was all about aquaplaning on the rain and mud which was seeping off the fields through which the narrow, nadgery and complex stages made their way.

First in, Kalle Rovanperä looked almost a touch unsure as he stepped out of his Toyota to warm himself up ahead of the start. He simply didn’t know what to expect. Yes, the safety crews had been through and had a good look at what was there 90 minutes earlier, but a whole heap more rain had fallen in that hour and a half.

“Let’s see,” said the world champion who did his best to dry the bottom of his race boots before sliding into the car and out of the rain.

Fastest. Fastest. Fastest. That was how his three-stage loop played out. The Finn left the best of the rest trailing in his wake as he blazed a trail through the sodden Czech lanes. Nobody could touch him. At times, nobody really looked to have the heart to try.

The afternoon wasn’t quite so dominant, but still Rovanperä’s lead grew. This was one of those classic days for the 23-year-old – the ones where he appears to walk on water as well as he drives on it.

For the leader, he was one of the few who’d been happy when it rained.

He told DirtFish: “After a summer of driving first on the road and losing time on the gravel, it was nice that the weather finally gave us a break.”

Realizing the risk of the event becoming something of a mudbath, the event organizer had planted the rather grandly titled anti-cutting devices on almost every corner. Almost.

Coming off the recce, Neuville was optimistic.

“The organizers have done a very good job,” he said. “There are a lot of these anti-cuts…”

The Belgian’s thinking was clear: keeping the cars on the road limits Kalle’s chance of hooking every bend to haul every last drop of mud into the road. It didn’t quite play out like that.

Rovanperä found the odd place to make a difference with the mud. But he found a whole load of places (like pretty much every corner) to make a difference with his talent.

With that difference up to 36.4s at the end of the day, Kalle looked to have the rally – and the title – in the palm of his hand.

Fastest time on Friday’s final stage was a crumb of comfort for Neuville. The Belgian rued a dry test and a setup which left him searching for both confidence and grip. The car came to him through the day, but only as conditions dried. A couple of high-speed moments aboard the i20 ensured he was happy to bring the car home second.

Asked to appraise his day, Neuville told DirtFish: “I am really satisfied. I mean it was not the most enjoyable for two reasons: one is the weather, the second is the setup, which was a little bit too stiff.

“I think we were a little bit aggressive on that [setup] side and expected the roads to be cleaner, basically. So it wasn’t that enjoyable. But at the end we made the best out of it with real moments or mistakes.”

Crucially, was he looking forward to challenge for P1 or behind to defend P2 from Elfyn Evans?

“I mean the target is to look in front of us, even if the gap is big. I mean there’s not much to lose, so we’re going to try to close in the gap if we can. Kalle doesn’t need to take all the risks. I don’t know if he was taking any today, but tomorrow he will start from the back of the field as well, so we should have similar road position.

“It will be interesting to see. I’m not sure we’re going to be able to fight with him, but Elfyn we should try to keep [behind].”

Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul was of a similar mind.

“Kalle,” he said, “is not beyond, you know: he’s human after all. So, let’s see, let’s keep on the pressure.”

Evans had run second through much of the day, but slipped back on Friday’s closer.

“I got a few bad slides I wasn’t expecting,” he said, talking specifically about SS8. “After that I didn’t fall into a good rhythm and then it’s easy to fall behind when that happens.

“I could maybe have gone harder in some areas today, applied a bit more risk. I think the road position has had an effect today, but he’s driven more than just the effect of the road position!”

Going to bed on Friday, Evans knew his title hopes were hanging by a thread. But crucially, the Welshman was still just about in the fight on what had been one of the most challenging, arduous and complicated WRC days on Tarmac.

The list of those who had fallen by the way side was long and enormously illustrious. Eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier was first to go after he dropped 41.9s with a damaged wheel rim, which resulted in the Pirelli wrapped around it losing all pressure.

“I hit something in the line,” said Ogier. “Everybody had taken the cut, I had to take the cut and I hit something. I think everybody hit it, but it’s only me [who gets the wheel and tire issue].”

A couple of stages on and the Frenchman admitted motivation was becoming a problem. By the end of the day, he smiled thinly: “The good news is that this day is over.”

Tänak feared he was in for a long day aboard the Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid. M-Sport had delivered its softest setup for a Tarmac car, but in these conditions, not even that was soft enough. The early leader slipped back to fourth through Friday.

Not making service after the first full day was Esapekka Lappi. The Finn was outstanding through the first couple of proper stages before his i20 spun into the trees not far from the start of the morning-concluding Šumavské Hoštice test.

Firmly in a fight with his team-mate Neuville, he suffered another big accident which would rule the car out of any further weekend action.

Toyota men Takamoto Katsuta and Ogier rounded out the top six, with Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen seventh as the fans turned south, bound for a weekend along the Austrian-German border.

Leg two

Leaving Passau on Saturday morning, Rovanperä admitted the day could be slightly more complex.

No longer was he out front on a relatively clean road. With the overall classification for Rally1 crews reversed to form the running order, he would be down at the back. But he would be there with a half-minute-plus buffer.

His plan was a simple one from the first stage on Saturday. “I was quite careful with the pace. Some of the boys are pushing, if we can be close to them then that’s OK.”

An hour or so later and it was the trees the champ was getting close to. Overcooking it into a hairpin right, Kalle and Jonne Halttunen were pleased with the get-out-of-jail-free card Mühltal presented them. At the last second, the Yaris was sent up an escape road between the trees.

Frightening?

“Yeah it was,” he said, grinning the grin of somebody who knows they’ve just got away with one. “It’s always tricky. You need to make some quick choices where to go when trying to see where you have space to go.

“But, yeah, I’m proud of the save I did! For sure, not the mistake, but the save was good.”

Good as the save was, the #69 Yaris still shipped 24.7s to Neuville. The gap now? Just the 10.9s separated first and second. With Evans still third, Rovanperä was keen to keep the pressure up. Don’t forget, a world title would be guaranteed if he brought his Yaris home ahead of Evans – regardless of his team-mate’s result.

Sitting on the line waiting to go into the morning’s third and final stage, a message was beamed to the lead Yaris. Evans was off. Everything changed. Kalle wound everything back and tip-toed his way through. Neuville charged back to the front.

“Why would I risk anything?” said Rovanperä at the finish. Typically, he didn’t want to leave the stop-line without a word for his friends Elfyn and Scott Martin.

“It’s really a shame for them,” he said. “I hope they’re OK. They put on a good fight and it would have been really tricky for us to keep pushing. Being last [Rally1] car on the road this morning was really tricky.

“Now the goal is a bit different, we just try and finish. Let’s keep it together and get there.”

Caught out by a slick right-hander, Evans ended up sliding the Yaris into a barn. Where it stayed.

Talking to DirtFish just minutes after the crash, he said: “Just on this new Tarmac surface here, it’s a little slippery, but nothing, let’s say, too out of the ordinary. It’s just locked an inside-front wheel on the way in, pushed us ever so slightly off-line and unfortunately there was really nowhere to go.

“Unfortunately, the damage is too much to continue.”

That damage was contained to the left-rear suspension and the loss of rear aero (much of which was planted forcefully against the barn door).

Team principal Jari-Matti Latvala – a man not unused to dropping it while chasing a championship leader – sympathised.

He said: “When we have two drivers fighting for the championship, we have to expect something like what we saw happen today. In Elfyn’s situation, he had to try to go for it, and as we have seen on this rally, in these difficult conditions, it’s very easy to make a mistake.

“We would have liked to see their fight continue like it was through to the end of the rally, but of course it is not completely over yet. The team could fix Elfyn’s car so he can still do whatever he can on the powerstage to keep the battle alive.

“At the same time, we know Kalle is in a good position now and that he has the ability to manage the situation.”

If Neuville ever dropped his head, which he doesn’t, he might have been tempted to 24 hours earlier. What a difference a day makes. Out front by 11s at lunch, his lead had mushroomed to 26.2s by close of play Saturday. The spring was very much back in his step.

“It was a bit easier this afternoon than this morning,” the leader explained to DirtFish. “We saw a bit drier conditions, less surprises as well, but still this last stage was a really tough one in the dark.

“It’s about the atmosphere, you know. I had so many spectators along the stage and yeah, it’s a different atmosphere and it was enjoyable to be honest. The stage was really tricky, but the pacenotes were working, the gravel crew did a good job, so I was fairly comfortable and having fun.

“I took my own rhythm and knew it would be OK.”

More of the same tomorrow?

“That’s the plan.”

Tänak stepped up to a podium position, despite a hydraulic issue in the final stage of the day.

Never a man to be downhearted for too long, Ogier bounced back from a fractious Friday with a solid Saturday, which included top three times on all but two tests – and fastest on two. Behind him Katsuta sat fifth, with the Japanese and Hyundai driver Suninen embroiled in a tight fight. Ten seconds separated the pair going into the final day.

Grégoire Munster was seventh with fellow Puma pilot Loubet enduring another tricky day – he was hit with a minute penalty for not having his crash helmet done up and lost several minutes with a collision with the scenery, and wheel change, on Friday.

The shining light for M-Sport in a top-10 which included four of their cars was Adrien Fourmaux. The Frenchman was peerless as he powered the latest-specification Fiesta to the front of the Rally2 field, overcoming a day one puncture.

Leg three

Finally, the mountains. After a few days of rain, drizzle and fog, the Alps showed themselves in their full morning sun glory. It was a setting fit for a special Sunday. Just four stages and 40 miles stood between Rovanperä, Halttunen and the confirmation of their return ticket to the top of the world.

Touching his toes and limbering up before Sunday’s opener, the 23-year-old took a moment. There wasn’t much to talk about. Except an extra hour in bed.

“That was nice,” he smiled, reflecting on clock’s going back an hour on Sunday morning. “I slept well last night. Of course I have been thinking about it all of the time. You need to keep in mind what’s coming and try to bring it home.”

Sunday was all about bringing it home. The times didn’t matter a jot. Twelve months ago, he sealed his first title with a five-point powerstage run at the Jack’s Ridge Stage in New Zealand. There would be no such heroics this time. Eighth fastest would do very nicely.

Crossing the line, the emotions took over and the pair of them began celebrations which would go on long into the night.

“Personally, I feel this one is more than last year,” Rovanperä told DirtFish. “Of course, you never forget the first one, but this time the competition was tighter and we did a good job.”

Smiling across at the man standing beside him, he added: “And big thanks to Jonne, he is the best co-driver in the world – and the team is the best as well. I’m going to enjoy this one more than the first.”

And with that, the podium and a champagne shower was calling.

Rovanperä’s middle-of-the-road approach was replicated one car ahead, as Neuville sealed his second win of the season with a margin of close to a minute over the Yaris.

Stepping from his i20, he had a similar message for his employer.

“The team,” he said, “has done a really good job. This one was a team effort. We needed the speed and the consistent approach and that’s what we used. That really paid off, and I was able to start enjoying the rally more towards the end – especially when the grip conditions got a bit more stable.

“We have been pushing hard since Sardinia for another win, and it didn’t happen despite many podiums. To win here in front of lots of Belgian fans and family is obviously great – a lot of joy in this moment. We can be proud of what we achieved and now we look forward to the last event of the year and focus on another victory.”

There are a few folk in red, white and black who might have plans for the podium’s top step in Toyota City. Championships decided or not, the final round of the season’s going to be a thriller, with plenty to play for.

And nobody will be playing harder than Tänak. The Estonian maintained his CER podium place through Sunday, defending it from a rejuvenated and charging Ogier.

Sunday might be remembered for a Neuville win and a Rovanperä crown, but nobody went through those four stages and 40 miles faster than the Frenchman. Mojo very much relocated Ogier is another who heads east searching a winning end to the season.

Sunday’s only scrap of real significance was decided in favor of Katsuta. After dropping 2.2s to Suninen on the opener, the Japanese edged his rival on the next three to settle the fight for fifth.

Sunday’s drier and more consistent conditions were appreciated by both.

“I found good balance in the car,” said Katsuta, “now I have to go to my home rally and push.”

It was easy to forget this was Suninen’s first ever start on Tarmac in a Rally1 car. And the conditions didn’t help one little bit.

“I was having to change things every day,” he said. “The conditions were never the same and this was about adapting – I think we did this well from the first corner.”

No arguments here. And the same can – and should – be said for Munster. He delivered a surefooted, sensible drive which points to more potential for next season.

One place behind Munster’s Puma was Fourmaux’s Fiesta. Predictably, the reigning British champion couldn’t stop smiling. And rightly so. He drove an exceptional rally, demonstrating absolution from when he was busy getting himself sacked this time last year. Next month’s Rally Japan offers Fourmaux the chance to complete that process. It’s not an opportunity he’s taking lightly.

In a service park seemingly packed with smiles, it was the crew finishing 23rd overall who rivalled the Rovanperä delight. Lying beneath his Škoda in the rain on Friday morning, this moment seemed a long way away from Andreas Mikkelsen. All wasn’t lost. If he could just keep the car moving and make it to the final day, a powerstage win would be enough for him to take a second WRC2 title in three years.

Mikkelsen’s been superb this season. He and Torstein Eriksen richly deserve their reward.

And so, to Japan. For one more time, the world’s finest will gather with pride the biggest prize as they look to close 2023 with a win.

For now, Kalle and Jonne… kippis!