Sébastien Ogier has crashed out of the lead battle for the Central European Rally, leaving Ott Tänak one stage away from his second win of the season.
Heading into the penultimate stage Ogier was 1.5s adrift of rally leader Tänak and was on course to score valuable points for Toyota, having led after Saturday’s action until an overshoot on Sunday’s first test.
But Ogier then overshot a left-hander only 600 meters into the same Am Hochwald test that had caught him out on the first pass. He slid into some trees and then bounced back across the road, impacting a telegraph pole and coming to a stop in a ditch.
Ogier had initially attempted to reverse away from the base of the telegraph pole he’d felled before he was aware of a terminal problem: his initial impact had taken the left-rear wheel off entirely.
He then climbed out to check the situation and understand if he could continue but it was quickly clear the GR Yaris Rally1 was too heavily damaged, leading the eight-time world champion to put his head in his hands and shout in frustration.
Moments later Tänak arrived at the finish line of the stage and had sympathy for his fellow world champion: “I’m sorry,” he said. “I pushed very hard, I was also off a couple of times.”
Ogier highlighted a difference in road conditions between the first and second passes had caught him out; route note crews were not permitted on the penultimate stage of the rally due to an insufficient time gap between passes of the test.
“Well, another good example that gravel crew are doing an important job for us,” Ogier told DirtFish. “Only stage of the weekend where unfortunately the timing was not allowing them to pass in the stage and so we couldn’t have the information of the road evolution.
“Basically there was this long corner under the trees which got very muddy and I didn’t expect that as there were some anti-cut devices and the line was not supposed to be in, but it looks like many cars in front went in and put more and more mud on the inside of the corner.
“I basically understeered and then went wide at the exit of the corner and hit the tree at the outside.
“Very different conditions. Again, we always repeat that the gravel crew are doing a very important job for us. They keep us safe. Well, no excuse, I’m behind the wheel and the others managed to go through without crashing, but I still remember that it would be nice to have them all the time, because for safety it’s definitely a very important point.”
Ogier then extended an apology to the team, who suddenly go from having taken six points away from Hyundai before Sunday morning to losing six.
“I feel very sorry for the team,” said Ogier. “I tried my best one more time. It’s not going my way and our way at the moment. What can I say? Sorry, guys. I did what I could, but unfortunately, it was again not my weekend.”
Elfyn Evans moves up to second place, 9.4s behind Tänak with only the powerstage remaining. Thierry Neuville now completes the podium places and is also set to gain three extra points from Ogier’s demise. Tänak too will benefit, given he was second behind the Frenchman after Saturday’s stages.
A crumb of comfort for Toyota comes courtesy of Takamoto Katsuta: he leads the Sunday order by 0.6s from Tänak. Adrien Fourmaux is a further 0.5s behind the lead Hyundai, while Evans is a mere 0.1s adrift of M-Sport’s team leader, having won the penultimate test.
Should he finish the rally Katsuta will now also score fourth-place points from Saturday for Toyota’s manufacturers’ championship account after Ogier’s demise.
The accident ends Ogier’s admittedly feint hopes of landing a ninth world title this year.
