World champion Kalle Rovanperä showed off his class on the wet asphalt on the second day of the Central European Rally. The Toyota driver, who is on the verge of his second world title, clearly distanced himself from the competition on the six special stages driven in the Czech Republic on Friday and took the clear lead from fourth place.
APA/AFP/Joe Klamar
After eight of 18 scoring stages, the Finn leads by 36.4 seconds over Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), who was ahead on Thursday. Third, 47.2 seconds behind, is Rovanperä’s teammate and World Cup rival Elfyn Evans from Wales. Fourth-placed Estonian Ott Tänak (Ford) is already one and a half minutes behind the leaders.
On Saturday, four of the six special stages will be driven in Upper Austria, the remaining two in Germany. On the final day with the final in Passau, Bavaria, there are two in each country. According to the WRC calendar, next year the Central European Rally will once again be the penultimate stop in the 13-race World Championship season. It will take place from October 31st to November 3rd, 2024.
