Sunday’s stages covered 77.78km of Austrian and German asphalt: two loops of Beyond Borders (SS15/17, 12.37km) and Mühltal (SS16/18, 26.52km) completed the final day, with the second loop of Mühltal acting as the longest tarmac Power Stage in WRC history.
Tänak and Järveoja pushed hard across Sunday’s stages, determined to continue to improve their stage times. Unfortunately, this push saw them make a mistake and veer off-line on SS17, dropping invaluable time before the Power Stage. With the fight for second place going right to the wire on SS18, the Estonians gave their everything to try and hold position, but could only muster sixth on the stage and surrendered second to Elfyn Evans. The crew finished in third and earned an additional Super Sunday point. The podium marks their 17th with Hyundai Motorsport and still leaves them in contention for the drivers’ and codrivers’ titles ahead of the final two rounds.
A tough Sunday ensued for Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria. The Frenchmen struggled with understeer on SS16, and on the following stage found themselves off the road after braking too late. The final stage saw the crew cruise through to bring their car home safely, finishing in fifth overall. Fourmaux/Coria will take useful insights to Japan from their challenging weekend in central Europe.
After ending Saturday on a high with a stage win on SS14, Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe returned on Sunday morning determined to make the most of the final day. Despite showing promise at the initial split point, their rally would end prematurely when the Belgians collided with a bridge 4.23km into the stage, cancelling the remainder of the stage and forcing them to retire from the rally.
With the championship entering its final throes, Hyundai Motorsport will venture to Rally Japan with new, crucial data and information gathered from Central European Rally, aiming to aid its crews take their contention one step further. The team will support Tänak and Järveoja’s fight for the drivers’ and codrivers’ titles until the end of the season.
Crew Notes: Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (#8 Hyundai i20 N Rally1)
Crew clinched sixth podium of the season
Tänak/Järveoja still in the fight for drivers’ and codrivers’ crowns
Tänak said: “We did everything we could this weekend, and we need to be happy with this outcome. It’s been a tough weekend, we struggled on Friday and gave away a lot, but yesterday we were able to fight back a bit. Today had some very high grip conditions, it was also getting very racy, and we just didn’t have the answer to the Toyotas. I enjoyed the fight, but I didn’t enjoy losing it. We learnt a lot ahead of Japan, so let’s see if we can do some minor changes to improve a bit more.”
Crew Notes: Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (#16 Hyundai i20 N Rally1)
Frenchmen brought car home in fifth after demanding weekend
Fourmaux/Coria gained important insight on tarmac setup for Rally Japan
Fourmaux said: “We were running well for the first few stages of the rally, but we just didn’t perform well enough on the slippery and bumpy sections. Over the weekend, we made some progress with the flat roads, but we lost time anywhere else. Today was harder, I was fighting the car a lot, but I think we have made some important progress to try and find the right setup for Japan. We still need to work on it, but I’m hoping it’s not going to be the same as this weekend.”
Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (#1 Hyundai i20 N Rally1)
Early exit for Belgians on final day of Central European Rally
Crash on SS15 led to stage cancellation
Neuville said: “Martijn and I had quite a big hit this morning. We have completed our medical checks thanks to the ambulance crew and hospital staff who did a great job to make sure we were okay and get us cleared. Everything was normal, and then I made a mistake just before the bridge. It was our mistake, we were too optimistic with a pace note and understeered into the bridge barriers. We know that in rallying the smallest errors can have massive consequences, and that’s what happened today. We will do everything we can to come back stronger in Japan.”
Hyundai Motorsport WRC Sporting Director Andrew Wheatley said: “First and foremost, we would like to congratulate Toyota on a successful season and securing the manufacturers’ championship title. We knew coming to this event that it would be a tough competition, but their efforts also inspire us to dig even deeper and do all we can to take the title again next year. We have seen encouraging individual performances from our crews here over the weekend, but even with these positives, the event has highlighted the work we still need to do. Going into the last few events of the year, we will keep fighting for the drivers’ championship while it is mathematically possible and there’s still an opportunity for us to continue to push, to keep putting in the work, to learn more, improve and make another step forward, and that’s what everyone in the team will be working towards.”
Next rally
The FIA WRC journeys to Asia for Rally Japan, the penultimate round of the season, from November 6-9.
Final Overall Classification – Central European Rally
1 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 2:36:20.1
2 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +43.7
3 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +49.3
4 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:06.8
5 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:04.6
6 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:13.9
7 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +5:48.8
8 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +8:56.2
9 J. Černý O. Krajča Škoda Fabia RS +10:51.1
10 F. Mareš R. Bucha Toyota GR Yaris +11:21.2 ...
Super Sunday Classification – Central European Rally
1 S. Ogier 39:56.4
2 E. Evans +8.0
3 K. Rovanperä +9.0
4 T. Katsuta +17.5
5 O. Tänak +22.0
2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 12
1 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 632
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 464
3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 176
4 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2 127
2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 12
1 E. Evans 247
2 S. Ogier 234
3 K. Rovanperä 234
4 O. Tänak 197
5 T. Neuville 166
6 T. Katsuta 110
7 A. Fourmaux 96
8 S. Pajari 79
9 O. Solberg 64
10 J. McErlean 26...
All results remain subject to official FIA confirmation.
