Rovanperä impresses on Central European Rally and moves closer to title

• He's the strongest: Kalle Rovanperä outclassed the competition on the second day of the Rally of Central Europe, which took place exclusively in the Czech Republic this Friday. The Finn was the fastest on four of the day's six stages, creating an already comfortable lead heading into the final two days of the event. After SS8, the leader of the rally and the championship is 36 seconds ahead of Thierry Neuville.
• The reigning world champion can seek a second consecutive coronation this weekend, if he does not concede a point to his teammate and rival Elfyn Evans. On the evening of this second day, Kalle Rovanperä is well on his way to winning a 2nd world crown on Sunday.
• The top 3 is completed by Elfyn Evans. In his long-distance battle with Thierry Neuville, the Welshman gave in in the last special of the day, won by the Belgian. The two men are separated by 10 seconds this Friday evening.
• Behind the three leading drivers, the other drivers are suffering and no one seems able to challenge the established hierarchy. Neither Ott Tänak, fourth at 1'30 and winner in Chile a month ago, neither Sébastien Ogier. The eight-time world champion admitted that he was ill this Friday and, after hesitating to give up, resolved to continue despite the lack of motivation. Dumped in the general classification, the Frenchman is in 6th place, 2'35 behind the leader.
• Pierre-Louis Loubet had a complicated afternoon: penalized one minute for not having correctly fastened his helmet during SS4, he then lost more than five minutes after an error at the start of SS8.
• In WRC2, Emil Lindholm still leads the debates. Adrien fourmaux, who is not racing for the WRC2 championship, moved up to 4th place in the category just behind Nicolas Ciamin. As a reminder, Yohan Rossel retired from the first special of the day.

Central European Rally – General classification after SS8

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