News and Quotes SS4

The first of two visits to the longest stage of the day – and o the entire Central European Rally saw the World Rally Championship crews take on the 26.69km Strašín test.  Although hampered by the missing bodywork and aerodynamic devices that he knocked off on Thursday evening, 2004 drivers’ championship leader Thierry Neuville managed to set a faster time than either of his rivals, Hyundai team-mate Ott Tänak and the Toyota of eight-time World champion Sébastien Ogier. It was Ogier who looked set to log another stage win until he survived a near-off in the middle of the stage, closing the gap between himself and Neuville to just 0.3 seconds at the top of the overall leader board. Britain’s Elfyn Evans outpaced all three of the top men in the championship in his Toyota to win the stage and climb to third overall, 0.5s behind Neuville. M-Sport Ford team leader Adrien Fourmaux’s hopes took a battering when a loss of the hybrid motor boost caused him to lose time, ending the stage 20 seconds slower than Evans. Sami Pajari’s Toyota passed Fourmaux for seventh position in the overall standings as a result, despite the young Finn also having been without hybrid assistance throughout the morning loop. Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen and the second M-Sport Ford of Grégoire Munster also lost their hybrid assistance on the same jump as Fourmaux. In WRC2 Nikolay Gryazin extended his lead with a dominant stage win.

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

“Quite tricky. Maybe luckily not quite so big fog anymore. Still it’s quite challenging so just trying to be really clen but it’s okay. At least this loop (the hybrid’s) not working and let’s see the afternoon loop. It is how it is.”

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

“Conditions can’t be much different in three minutes (after Neuville). Somehow, I usually struggle with the car. In tricky conditions it’s pretty difficult to predict what’s going on there.”

#9 Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR) / Torstein Eriksen (NOR), Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid

“A lot more demanding, this stage. I lost the hybrid midway through. It’s quite tricky conditions, I was much more on the careful side… not sure how grippy these cars are in these conditions. You can drive much faster than you think so you just have to adjust. ”

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

“I had no feeling for the grip, I was understeering massively throughout the stage and many grip changes on the beginning so I struggled to find back the confidence after. It’s still then a few surprises, the car not turning, so it was a challenging stage.”

#13 Grégoire Munster (LUX) / Louis Louka (BEL), Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid

“Still struggling a lot with understeer and we lost the hybrid on that jump. So okay, I don’t manage to get the front turned in so if it’s not turning in I cannot go on throttle.”

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

“Just on a jump we were losing the hybrid but I have no feeling at all with the car. It’s a nightmare. It’s really difficult to drive so I’m struggling. The stage is tricky but the car doesn’t help me.”

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

“I lose a bit of time of course. Not really fast I guess… it wasn’t a good stage for me.”

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

“It’s okay, a bit more tricky for sure. I just back off quite a lot but this is the plan for today so all okay.”

#20 Oliver Solberg (SWE) / Elliott Edmondson (GBR), Škoda Fabia RS Rally2

“Slippery. Bloody hell, I had a few slides and you lose a lot of confidence in some places and then in some other places there’s a lot of grip and then there’s nothing. I really struggled to really find a rhythm but I did the best I could anyway with the confidence I had.”

#21 Yohan Rossel (FRA) / Florian Barral (FRA), Citroën C3 Rally2

“I don’t know. I have no feeling into the car. Very, very strange situation. I don’t know but for me I have no grip and I don’t understand the reactions of the car. I don’t know.”

#22 Nikolay Gryazin (BUL) / Konstantin Aleksandrov (ANA), Citroën C3 Rally2

“To be honest I also struggle. Yes we slide but I think it as for everyone and I was not really risking. I just trying to be really smooth, but I was not expecting so slippy in the forest.”

#24 Kajetan Kajetanowicz (POL) / Maciej Szczepaniak (POL), Škoda Fabia RS Rally2

“It’s difficult, Hard to read the road for me after long gap between the rallies on Tarmac in these conditions it not easy on the slicks. Anyway step-by-step.”

#25 Gus Greensmith (GBR) / Jonas Andersson (SWE), Škoda Fabia RS Rally2

“I had absolutely no feeling. None at all. It oversteers then it understeers then it oversteers then it understeers. I’m going to have to try something different because it’s just… I have no clue.”

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

“Pretty difficult. Can’t say I’m really happy with my run. I don’t know, it just seems like we weren’t using all the grip available. There was more out there.”