The final day of the Central European Rally saw Sebastien Ogier return to action and scorched through Sunday’s stages to record a clean sweep of the three timed speed tests to claim the full house of Super Sunday and Wolf Power Stage points after crashing out of the rally on Saturday.
Kalle Rovanperä extended his lead over second placed Ott Tanak, but it was Elfyn Evans who got the job done. Having lost second overall on Saturday afternoon, he hunted the Estonian down as he fought to reclaim second place in the overall classification.
It all came down to the final stage in the fight for the second step of the podium: Evans needed to find at least 1.2 seconds and threw caution to the wind, beating Tanak by 5.6 seconds, and with it two crucial extra championship points. The Welshman also pipped Rovanperä by one second in the Super Sunday standings and left Europe with a 13-point lead over Ogier and Rovanperä, who are now tied in second in the Driver’s Championship standings.
Toyota Gazoo Racing locked away their sixth consecutive Manufacturers’ Championship with an unassailable lead of 168 points over Hyundai.
Behind Tanak in third, Takamoto Katsuta ended fourth, with Adrien Fourmaux almost a minute further back in fifth. Sami Pajari had another strong weekend to end in sixth, with Josh McErlean taking seventh in his M-Sport Ford Puma.
The day’s opening stage was cancelled after Thierry Neuville crashed into a hay bale and bridge parapet just 4.2km from the start, littering the narrow road with lubricants and body parts.
The non-points scoring Oliver Solberg powered his GR Yaris Rally2 to another category win but the points in round 12 went to the Czech driver Jan Cerny in his Skoda Fabia RS.
Read the Full Report in Motorsport Monday tomorrow.
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