Sébastien Ogier clung onto the lead of Central European Rally by just 0.6 seconds after a titanic Friday battle with Toyota team-mate and World Rally Championship rival Kalle Rovanperä.
Ogier began Friday with a 1.6s advantage after Thursday’s two stages, meaning over the course of Friday’s 61.5 miles and six tests Rovanperä was just one second faster.
Feeling as if first on the road was not the advantage it normally is on Tarmac, Ogier made the difference on the first pass of Col de Jan – the one stage where he was able to pull mud out onto the road for his rivals.
Otherwise, the dry conditions left the road dusty and Ogier slightly compromised, and therefore susceptible to attack from Rovanperä.
The Finn – who’s bound for a single-seater racing career in 2026 – was an impressive 1.5s faster than Ogier on SS6 and then 2.1s quicker on SS7 to slim Ogier’s lead to just 0.3s.
However Ogier outpaced Rovanperä by 0.3s on the final stage of the day to carry a 0.6s advantage into Saturday.
He said: “It’s been more challenging than normal opening the road on Tarmac, only one stage was good for us. Whether we are in front or second it doesn’t really matter at this moment, but we can be happy with our day.”
Rovanperä actually sounded happy to be second to Ogier overnight – but unhappy with the anti-cut devices which were reflecting his Toyota’s spotlights back at him.
“Really difficult in the dark with so many anti-cuts, the lights are just shining on them, you don’t really see the corners. It’s really, really difficult,” he said.
“The gap is quite good – for sure I prefer to be before him [Ogier] tomorrow in the starting order so it’s not so bad.”
The leading Toyotas are comfortably clear of the chasing pack, which is led by another GR Yaris of Elfyn Evans. He has fellow title contender Ott Tänak 3.3s behind him, but a 29.5s deficit to overnight leader Ogier.
Echoing Rovanperä’s anti-cut concerns, Evans said: “Pretty difficult in here with these anti-cut poles, they’re reflecting so bad you can’t see anything past them so I think we need a better solution for that at night.”
Tänak tried his best on Friday but wasn't able to unlock that magic feeling with his Hyundai
Fourth-placed Tänak sarcastically labelled the anti-cuts as a “clever idea for sure” while Takamoto Katsuta revealed the drivers had asked the organizer to turn the poles around so that the reflective side wasn’t facing the cars.
The organizer later confirmed to DirtFish that the anti-cut devices will be turned around for Saturday’s night stage(s).
On the leaderboard Katsuta is 2.9s behind Tänak and 10.4s clear of Adrien Fourmaux, who had been third overall before his road position (seventh) worked against him on the muddy SS5/6.
Sami Pajari is seventh in the fifth of the Toyotas, 9.9s adrift of Fourmaux and 56.0s off the lead, ahead of world champion Thierry Neuville whose tricky title defense continued when he punctured after landing badly over a jump on SS5 and running up a bank.
That same jump was the demise of M-Sport’s Grégoire Munster, who broke his suspension and was forced to retire.
Team-mate Josh McErlean is ninth and last of the running Rally1 cars, building his confidence on a surface he’s still inexperienced on in a top-class car.
Oliver Solberg heads the Rally2 category but of those registered for WRC2 points, it’s Alejandro Cachón who holds a handsome lead of 34.2s over Léo Rossel.
Solberg and Cachón’s Toyotas are separated by 22.1s.
