Kalle Rovanperä has stolen the lead of Central European Rally from Sébastien Ogier on the first stage of Saturday.
The two world champions began Saturday’s leg separated by just 0.6 seconds after a titanic battle over the previous eight stages – but Ogier had always held the lead.
Not anymore. Now running at the back of the field instead of the front – and not split by a car in the running order – Rovanperä turned the screw and beat his rival on SS9 by 1.3s, to move 0.7s ahead.
“Obviously today it’s a different game starting from behind,” Rovanperä said, “more pollution, more tricky places. I think the weather will play a part in the next ones.”
Ogier wasn’t too perturbed: “I didn’t feel so good,” he said, “some corners were dirtier than we thought. But 1.3s [lost on this stage] is still very close.”
Ott Tänak set the second-fastest time and has therefore closed to just 1.0s behind Elfyn Evans in the fight for third, beating the Welshman by 2.3s on Made in FRG. Takamoto Katsuta is 5.6s behind in fifth having set the seventh-fastest time.
“Not amazing, but yeah OK,” Evans commented. “[I’m] sometimes not carrying the speed I’d like.”
Adrien Fourmaux meanwhile beat Sami Pajari by just a tenth of a second to extend his grip on sixth place to exactly 10.0s.
Grégoire Munster restarted after his suspension damage on Friday, running as the first car on the road, but suffered a “high-speed spin” over the crest of a hill.
Team-mate Josh McErlean noticed the marks Munster left on the road: “He was lucky!”
McErlean quipped.
The threat of rain hangs over the rest of the loop, with all drivers but McErlean carrying at least two wet tires in their package. World champion Thierry Neuville has three plus three softs, meaning he drove SS9 with a wet on the rear-right – but it didn’t seem to slow him too much.
