Just four stages stand between Kalle Rovanperä and back-to-back FIA World Rally Championship titles after his only title rival Elfyn Evans crashed out of Central European Rally on Saturday.

Having dominated Thursday’s treacherous tests in the Czech Republic to build a commanding rally lead, 23-year-old Rovanperä was already doing more than enough to successfully defend his 2022 WRC drivers’ crown.

A spin on Saturday’s second stage allowed Thierry Neuville to slash the Finn’s advantage by more than half, but the dynamic changed later in the morning when Rovanperä’s Toyota GR Yaris team-mate Evans, who had been sitting third overall, crashed out the rally.

Evans needed to outscore his colleague by at least one point at this penultimate round to keep the fight going, but he came unstuck on a slippery right-hand bend and slid into a barn. The Welshman will restart on Sunday in a desperate bid to salvage bonus points from the Wolf Power Stage.

Sacrificing his chances of the outright rally win to focus on his championship prospects, Rovanperä dialled back his speed. Neuville was left to build a 26.2-second overnight lead in his Hyundai i20 N.

“It’s good to be at the finish of the day,” said Rovanperä, who simply needs a drama-free run through the closing stages to clinch the title. “It’s tough out there. I think these are the most tough Tarmac rally conditions I have ever seen.”

Neuville added: “All afternoon we tried to manage the gap and I am happy to finish the day in the lead of the rally. We are following our target.”

Ott Tänak ensured that all three top-line manufacturers ended the day on the podium, bringing his Ford Puma to the end in a lonely third overall. A non-functioning handbrake caused the M-Sport man some frustrations in SS14, and he trailed Rovanperä by over one minute with Sébastien Ogier 31.1sec behind.

The battle for fifth place was raging between Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen. Katsuta struggled to feel confident on the greasy asphalt roads in the morning but upped his pace in the afternoon to claim the position by 10.9sec.

Puma hotshot Grégoire Munster was seventh overall ahead of Pierre-Louis Loubet. Adrien Fourmaux and Emil Lindholm, leader of the WRC2 category in a Hyundai i20 N Rally2, completed the leaderboard.

Sunday’s finale boasts two stages, each run twice, across two countries. Böhmerwald in Austria is first up before Passauer Land in Germany, the second pass of which forms the bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage.

Leading positions after Saturday:
1. T Neuville / M Wydaeghe                        Hyundai i20 N                    2h 18m 34.5s
2. K Rovanperä / J Halttunen                       Toyota GR Yaris                 +26.2s
3. O Tänak / M Järveoja                                                 Ford Puma                          +1m 49.1s
4. S Ogier / V Landais                                      Toyota GR Yaris                 +2m 20.2s
5. T Katsuta / A Johnston                              Toyota GR Yaris                 +2m 47.9s
6. T Suninen / M Markkula                           Hyundai i20 N                    +2m 58.8s

Teemu Suninen has crashed out of second place in Rally Chile in the 15th and penultimate stage

Under pressure from the rapidly closing Thierry Neuville, Suninen landed badly after a jump, spearing into a bank on the right hand side of the road which ricocheted him down a bank on the left side of the road.

Neuville inherits second place, with Elfyn Evans about to give Toyota a welcome podium.

Ott Tanak still leads by 51.6 seconds while second-placed Teemu Suninen is under huge pressure from Thierry Neuville in a fight for second place with two stages remaining.

Tanak is cruising to the finish, saving his car and tyres for the Wolf Power Stage later this afternoon where extra championship points are on offer. While overall positions in the top six remain unchanged, Suninen has seen his lead cut from 13.9 seconds overnight to just 6.7 seconds by his teammate Thierry Neuville in a frenetic fight for second.

Elfyn Evans is still the leading Toyota Gazoo Racing Yaris, adding a few seconds to his lead over birthday boy Kalle Rovanpera, who turns 23 today.

Happy birthday Kalle, from all at Motorsport Week and Motorsport Monday!

Ott Tänak closed in on the Rally Chile Bio Bío silverware and his second win of the season by dominating Saturday to build a commanding lead as tyres dominated the day.

Pick the right compound, and you’re good to go. Choose the wrong one, and you lose truckloads of time as Toyota Gazoo Racing trio found out to their cost.

Tänak and his M-Sport Ford Puma were imperious as the Estonian turned a 4.2 second lead into a massive 58.3 second advantage over Hyundai Shell Mobis’ Teemu Suninen at the end of the rally’s longest day.

Saturday’s stages were longer, twistier and much more abrasive than Friday’s. And while Tänak’s rivals leaned towards Pirelli’s soft compound rubber for the morning loop, the Estonian’s decision to take four hard tyres with him made a world of difference.

With their tyres worn down by the time they had reached the final stage before lunchtime, Suninen, Evans and Rovanperä all leaked masses of time. Tänak, whose hard choice boasted a longer lifespan, took full advantage and extended his lead to 47.8sec before service.

Tyre preservation remained a key factor on the repeated afternoon loop but, with the hard work done, Tänak and co-driver Martin Järveoja were able to manage their lead over Suninen.

“It’s been an extremely good day,” Tänak admitted. “It’s been working in our favour and, on the stages which were bad, we had the advantage to slow down but, when it was needed, we were able to speed up. It’s not finished yet, so we need to keep it going tomorrow.”

Neuville was hindered by a slow puncture in the day’s opening stage but passed Evans late in the morning to make it two Hyundai i20 N cars inside the top three. He and Suninen were split by 13.9sec after Saturday’s loops and barring any drama on Sunday, will postpone Toyota’s Manufacturers’ title celebrations.

For Rovanperä, who ended the day 39.3sec behind Evans in fifth overall, will also most likely have to wait for his second title.

The Finn turns 23 on Sunday and carried a commanding 33-point lead into this 11th round of the season, but requires a score 28 points higher than team-mate Evans’ if he is to celebrate the title with two rallies remaining.

Takamoto Katsuta experienced tyre troubles of his own in SS9 but remained a lonely sixth overall in another Toyota. Behind him was WRC2 leader Oliver Solberg who, along with Gus Greensmith, passed Sami Pajari in the final stage as the Škoda Fabia driver struggled with tyre wear.

Grégoire Munster lost seven minutes when he stopped to change two wheels late in the day. His time loss allowed Yohan Rossel to complete the top 10. Sunday’s finale boasts speed tests in Las Pataguas and El Poñen, each driven twice and punctuated by a brief 15-minute service halt. The second pass of the latter forms the Wolf Power Stage where vital bonus points are up for grabs.

Hyundai driver Ott Tanak ended the longest day on the WRC calendar so far, in the lead to put further pressure on championship leader Kalle Rovanpera. The Estonian leads a group of four drivers that are separated by 7.2s. Welshman, Elfyn Evans is just 0.2s behind Tanak with Sebastien Ogier ending the day third after suffering damage to his spoiler. Rovanpera is the final driver in fourth. 

The Rally got underway on Thursday with a 1.78km fly through of Pukekawa Domain in Auckland. Tanak set the pace in a stage he did not love but still beat Ford’s Craig Breen by 0.9s.  

“We will see what we can do” said Tanak. “My head was spinning in here and I had no idea where the road was going – it was not so fun actually!” 

Following on from Breen, Thierry Neuville finished in third place with Evans, Takamoto Katsuta and Rovanpera finishing in the top six. Tanak is currently second in the standings and despite saying otherwise, he will be trying to delay Rovanpera yet again here. 

With Friday came rain, and a temporary leader in the form of Craig Breen. The Irishman made the best of the wet conditions to immediately takeover the lead of the rally, however it would be wrestled back in the very next stage. After Tanak regained the lead, he would be dominant until the clouds cleared at the start of the second pass of Whaanga Coast. An early road position combined with a drying surface meant that he dropped positions to Evans and Ogier, the latter gaining time from fifth place thanks to a lower starting position. 

The weather would come back to haunt Ogier though as despite initially leading by 8.2s, he had a brush with a tree which damaged the rear of his Yaris and ripped the upper half of the spoiler from the car. This incident allowed Tanak to regain the lead with the consistent Evans on tow. 

Rovanpera’s position of opening the road meant the Toyota driver missed a lot of the heavier rain on SS6. This allowed the Finn to finish 0.5s behind Ogier and still in touching distance of the top spot. 

Despite a quick start from Breen, it all went south for the Puma driver. Breen had to retire the car after sliding down a banking which caught Colin Mcrae out back in 2002. Gus Greensmith, who had run second early in the day, eventually slipped back to being 36.6s adrift of Rovanpera but in fifth place. 

Thierry Neuville suffered two spins but after a setup change, he regained composure and moved to within 1.8s of Greensmith. Oliver Solberg and Takamoto Katsuta finished the day in seventh and eighth, respectively. 

Top 6 after Friday: 

1. Tanak 1hr 36min 48.2s 

2. Evans +0.2s 

3. Ogier +6.7s 

4. Rovanpera +7.2s 

5. Greensmith +43.8s 

6. Neuville +45.6s 

Thierry Neuville grabbed victory in the Acropolis Rally Greece after a commanding final day in which he led home a Hyundai 1-2-3.

Neuville finished 15s ahead of teammate Ott Tanak with Dani Sordo 1min 49.7s behind to secure a commanding finish for the Korean Manufacturer. Ott Tanak also secured five bonus points after winning the Wolf Power Stage ahead of Kalle Rovanpera and Craig Breen.

SS14 provided more drama for Toyota, Elfyn Evans’s Yaris developed turbo problems on the way to the start of the opening stage of the day. This meant that the Hyundai trio at the top of the standings were able to strengthen their grip on the podium.

Neuville lost 2.9s to Tanak although the gap was still 25s at the end, but Evan’s retirement meant that Dani Sordo had just under a two-minute gap to Pierre-Louis Loubet. Craig Breen and Takamoto Katsuta didn’t make any significant inroads, the duo 4min, and 5min away from Neuville respectively.

Neuville would gain time back on Tanak on SS15 to go into the final stage with a 29.3s gap but otherwise, there wasn’t much movement as the drivers were now looking to the Wolf Power Stage as their next chance for points.

The power stage was set for drivers who hadn’t had the best rally to salvage something. Ott Tanak would win the stage by 3s from Kalle Rovanpera. Rovanpera missed another chance to secure the Driver’s title and was not content with the points given the wider context of the rally. Craig Breen rounded off the power stage podium 6.4s behind Tanak.

Despite shipping 14s to his teammate on the final stage, Neuville had done enough to take victory and head the Hyundai 1-2-3 overall with Dani Sordo in third.

“It has been a tough season so far and to get a victory after a very difficult weekend in Belgium is a relief. The most important thing is we have a 1-2-3 for the team – after all these years we finally got a historical moment for the brand and the team…”

Despite Loubet and Breen finishing fourth and fifth overall for Ford, this must go down as a missed opportunity after leading 1-2 on Friday. Katsuta ended the rally in sixth in what was ultimately, a poor showing from Toyota.

Top 6 after final day:

1. Neuville 3hr 34min 52s
2. Tanak +15.0s
3. Sordo +1min 49.7s
4. Loubet +3min 42.2s
5. Breen +4min 09s
6. Katsuta +6min 21.1s

Rally New Zealand is next up on 29/9 – 2/10 for Round 11. Sebastien Ogier returns for Toyota as we all as Oliver Solberg back at Hyundai.