News and Quotes SS 5 (Sumavske Hostice 1)

The Central European Rally continued its adventures in Czechia with the third stage of the morning loop, 16.85km Šumavaské Hoštice, proving to be a big challenge to the contenders. Falling leaves and variable grip were the bugbears, with several front runners surviving near misses before Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen crashed out of the event, bringing out the red flags. The crew and onlookers were all unharmed, meanwhile the stage was won by Hyundai’s Ott Tänak ahead of his team-mate Thierry Neuville by just 0.3 seconds. The result allowed Neuville to climb to the top of the overall leader board after Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier lost ground.

#11 Thierry Neuville (BEL) / Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL), Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid

“I just slide a bit wide, the grip is changing in every corner and with no car in the front it’s hard to judge the grip. We have a bit more cuts so I tried to put a bit dirt on the road, hopefully it works but overall very tricky, lots of grip changes and we still struggle with the balance in those conditions.”

#8 Ott Tänak (EST) / Martin Järveoja (EST), Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid

“Quite tricky in places, especially the forest some places big surprise. Difficult to find really a good rhythm but we try our best, so. The grip changes basically – some places the damp is quite good and some places nothing so how do you know it, you know.”

#17 Sébastien Ogier (FRA) / Vincent Landais (FRA), Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid

“I think this one was a bit expected that it gets quite dirty from the front car, some leaves, so… it was just a mistake for me on the last junction again where I lose a bit of time but it was okay stage.”

#33 Elfyn Evans (GBR) / Scott Martin (GBR), Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid

“It was difficult.There was a section in the middle with the leaves where it seemed like you had no grip but the leaves are everywhere so you can’t read the road at all so probably far too careful but okay.”

#16 Adrien Fourmaux (FRA) / Alexandre Coria (FRA), Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid

“I’m really, really struggling with the car all day. It’s really difficult there’s also a lot of leaves in the forest and the cars in front bring a lot in the middle so we cannot read the grip which is under the leaves so every time you slow down also. No hybrid. I just try to survive from today. It’s definitely not a good day for us. I’m really struggling with the car.”

#18 Takamoto Katsuta (JPN) / Aaron Johnson (IRL), Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid

“Much, much more difficult now. Lot of leaves so you don’t know what’s underneath. It was incredibly slippy. For sure it’s getting worse and worse, so… many surprises to be honest.”

#5 Sami Pajari (FIN) / Enni Mälkönen (FIN), Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid

“This was maybe even more challenging. Like it was not so consistent like some of the sections were really nice, the grip was quite high, and then it was all like changing quite often so not so easy but clearly many, many places which I am clearly too slow but, yeah, it’s all about the learning.”