Neuville takes Central European Rally lead inching to WRC title
19th October 2024Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville has taken the World Rally Championship’s Central European Rally lead as the Belgian crew inch closer to their maiden title.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool
It was the first full day of action for the WRC’s penultimate round after the first two opening events on Thursday afternoon, with Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier taking the overnight lead.
Throughout the day’s six stages, 110.64km of competitive terrain, the championship leader – Neuville – took control of the event and became the new rally leader, ahead of Ogier by 6.4 seconds.
Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen had a moment on SS5 as he approached a fast left-hander. The Norweigan understeered wide across the road, not helped by leaves on the road, and rode into a fence lining along the course. He and his co-driver were okay.
Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier has taken the overnight lead at the World Rally Championship’s Central European Rally ahead of Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.#WRC / #CER / #CentralEuropeanRally https://t.co/8vmhFdTJrh
— Apex Motorsports (@ApexMSPRT) October 18, 2024
How the second day of running concluded…
Neuville stands as the rally leader with an elapsed rally time of one hour, four minutes and 40 seconds. He was closely followed by Ogier as Hyundai’s Ott Tanak rounded out the top three.
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans took home his first stage win of the weekend, on the fourth stage (Strašín 1), and finished the day best of the rest down in fourth. He was accompanied by fellow teammate Takamoto Katsuta who rounded out the top 10.
Toyota’s Sami Pajari led the bottom five, inside the top 10, in sixth ahead of M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux and Gregoire Munster who occupied seventh and eighth.
The M-Sport duo were the last of the Rally1 runners inside the top 10 following Mikkelsen’s accident whereas Jourdan Serderidis found himself 29th overall, over 10 minutes off Neuville’s pace.
As a result, it allowed WRC2 contenders Nikolay Gryazin and Oliver Solberg to round out the top 10 in ninth and 10th respectively.
Read more WRC here:
- Ogier takes opening overnight lead in WRC Central European Rally
- Hyundai doing everying it can to win WRC titles
- Toyota’s Chile result is ‘big motivation boost’ heading to WRC Central European Rally
- How can Thierry Neuville win WRC title in Central European Rally?
- WRC Rally1 entry list for Central European Rally
- Winners and Losers of Rally Chile 2024
Give us a follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with the latest news from the world of Motorsport! You can also support us on Patreon or on our website!
Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
