2024 WRC Rally Central Europe | 6 talking points

Neuville escapes with lead intact

The first stage of the Central European Rally was a small super special around the tarmac bits near a horse racing track. A nibbly little thing full of short straights, hard braking and an inevitable donut. The kind of stage where nothing can be won and often very little can be lost. Thierry Neuville got about four corners into this 2.5km test before he stripped his Hyundai i20N WRC of a large part of its front right corner. Given there was no real service upcoming before the following stages, that is how he had to spend the rest of the opening leg of the rally. It was looking like Thierry, arriving with an almost unassailable lead in the championship, was about to Thierry it up.

A reasonably innocuous spin followed on Saturday, before the cameras cut back from a replay of that incident to show Neuville’s Hyundai scrabbling for grip in a small ditch. Thierry was really having a go at Thierry-ing it up. 

But, somehow he managed to get some grip in reverse, pulled the i20N out, found somewhere to get back on the road, and carried on. It’s the kind of half luck, half skill that wins you a championship. And with others seemingly without the car to finish strongly or fancying also throwing themselves at the scenery, he would recover to finish third. He also just-about claimed enough points to knock Elfyn Evans out of the title race, leaving Hyundai as guaranteed victors no matter what happens in Japan.

Tänak retains hope

Because of the way the points system works, the winner of the Central European Rally, Ott Tänak, left with only four points more than his team-mate. But that was enough to keep the Estonian in championship contention. 

The reality is that Tänak was probably at least second fastest over the weekend, but with Sebastien Ogier intent on just throwing GR Yarises at the scenery at the moment (more on that shortly), he would finish the weekend seven seconds clear of Elfyn Evans.

That leaves Tänak 25 points behind his Belgian team-mate. With 30 points on the table in Japan there is a chance of a second championship for 2019 victor Tänak, but it’s slim. In reality he needs Neuville to not finish, and not be able to return for Sunday points to stand any chance. But we can at least confirm it is now an all-Hyundai fight guaranteed.

Ogier lost

After victory at Rally Finland, Sebastian Ogier was in such form that it seemed like if he just decided to turn up to the rest of the season, a ninth championship was going to be his. 

Fast forward three rallies and Ogier’s return to full-time competition has been, without resorting to hyperbole, a bit of a disaster. He scored Saturday points in Greece, all the possible Sunday points in Chile and nothing at all in Central Europe. Each time he sent his GR Yaris at some kind of scenery. In Central Europe he took out a telegraph pole and didn’t do Toyota’s hopes of a manufacturers’ crown any good at all. 

He looked the right level of angry with himself as he and co-driver (and weekend birthday boy) Vincent Landais pulled themselves from the wreckage and surveyed what happened. Whether or not Ogier was really there hoping for a ninth title (and to say he didn’t want it at least a little is a bit naive), he was there to secure more points for Toyota than a stuttering Elfyn Evans was managing. He has been comprehensively outscored by the Welshman. Some soul searching will have to follow for the French legend.

Manufacturers battle remains very much on

One rally ago Toyota was on top of the world. It had slashed Hyundai’s lead in the championship and was looking forward to a triumphant return to its home rally for the season finale. The momentum was with the Japanese team. One good Central European Rally and the title would be in its hands. 

Well, the Central European Rally did pretty much nothing other than reduce the rallies left to decide the championship. What was a 17 point gap is now 15. Both teams have some stuttering drivers, both have some finding form. It could be very interesting.

Hyundai will be confident in Japan, even if it is Toyota’s home rally. The i20N might not have demonstrated its prowess on tarmac as strongly across the roads of Germany, Austria and Czechia, but it has proven itself to be the stronger of the Rally1 cars on closed surfaces this year. But with Toyota at home, and having scored a 1,2,3,5 last year, this one is very much on.

By the way, if Ogier hadn’t binned his GR Yaris, Toyota could have been eight or more points closer. On such margins...

Bad weekend, good weekend for Pajari

Away from the very top battle, it was a mixed weekend for Toyota’s young star Sami Pajari. Pajari has impressed massively since he started driving Rally1 cars earlier this year But he dented that good work a little by writing off his GR Yaris on the final day at the CER. We’re pretty sure that Toyota won’t mind that, this is a learning process, but it’s bound to play on the Finn’s mind in the coming week.

However, he needs to pick himself up, because there is a title battle still on for Pajari. While he was away playing in Rally1 cars, his fellow WRC2 title contenders were tripping over themselves not to take advantage of his absence. 

First Oliver Solberg struggled in Chile, finishing fourth when he had the chance to take the title there and then. Then Yohan Rossel, who won in Chile to narrow the gap right down, proceeded to have a nightmare in Central Europe, ending his title chances.

Now we go to Japan with only Pajari eligible to score points. Solberg and Rossel have both exhausted their seven allowed score-gathering rallies. It’s a simple set of maths. Score more than 15 points, win the championship. Pajari is the form driver in WRC2 even without having been there, so we’d put some decent money on it being a Toyota driver that wears the second tier crown in 2024.

Taka’s decent return

A final short word for Takamoto Katsuta. The Japanese driver was, to be honest quite rightly, benched by Toyota in Chile. This was not necessarily because Toyota had lost faith, but more to give Katsuta a rest. He had begun to look more and more lost as the 2024 season progressed, a season that for his career, really needed to see him move forward. 

Back in a Rally1 car in Central Europe and Katsuta, without setting the world ablaze, looked much happier. Fourth overall was good, but grabbing full Sunday points is massive for Toyota in the manufacturers' championship, and is exactly what Katsuta is there to do. More of that at home in Japan and he will do his chances of another full season drive a world of good.