World championship leader Sebastien Ogier has made the best start to Rally Central Europe, with Kalle Rovanperä hot on the heels of his title rival.
Sebastien Ogier has taken the lead after the first two special stages of the Central Europe Rally, putting him ahead of his title rival Kalle Rovanperä. The Frenchman, who is aiming for his ninth world championship title, set the benchmark on asphalt on Thursday and goes into Friday with a 1.6-second lead over his Toyota teammate.
The twelfth round of the WRC kicked off with two runs of the 12.83-kilometer “Golf und Therme” stage. Ogier made the most of his starting position on the clean road in the first run, driving 1.7 seconds faster than Rovanperä and Hyundai driver Adrien Fourmaux, who achieved exactly the same time.
The track became increasingly dirty with each car, even though the organizers had installed numerous “anti-cut” elements to prevent dirt from being kicked up.
The second run took place at dusk – only the two top teams were able to complete the stage without headlights. Ogier was 0.6 seconds faster than in the first run, but was narrowly beaten to the stage victory: Rovanperä was 0.1 seconds faster and took the stage win. The Finn had started the rally 21 points behind Ogier.
“A clean start tomorrow will be much more difficult,” says Ogier. “It’s hard to predict what the weather will do.”
Adrien Fourmaux could not finish higher than fifth in the second run, as the darkness hampered him. Nevertheless, the Frenchman defended his third place overall, 3.9 seconds behind Ogier.
Stage Win SS1 @SebOgier / @vinzzlandais @TGR_WRC WRC | CER2025 https://t.co/HMWVEzHQ7p pic.twitter.com/QNT55yaVe0
— FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) October 16, 2025
“Of course, it’s not entirely fair that we have to drive in the dark while others still have daylight,” says Fourmaux. “But that’s part of the game. I’m still happy with my stage – maybe I could have shaved off another second, but the lights didn’t shine over the crest, so I couldn’t see the line properly. That’s okay.”
Toyota drivers Sami Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta are tied for fourth place, 5.6 seconds behind the leaders.
Ogier’s closest title rival, Elfyn Evans, who is only two points behind in the World Championship standings, lost around three seconds in both runs and is sixth overall, six seconds behind.
Hyundai driver Ott Tänak finished the day in seventh place (+6.1 s) in the older i20 N, 0.2 seconds faster than his teammate Thierry Neuville, who is driving the current factory car.
The top 10 was completed by M-Sport Ford drivers Gregoire Munster and Josh McErlean ahead of the best WRC2 driver Alejandro Cachon.
Six asphalt stages with a total of 99 kilometers of special stages await the teams on Friday.
