Sebastien Ogier opened up a slender early lead over World Rally Championship title favourite Thierry Neuville after the opening two stages of the Central European Rally.
The eight-time world champion made an impressive start to the 18-stage three-country asphalt rally to lead Neuville by 0.9s. The latter can seal a maiden world title this weekend.
Ogier kicked off proceedings by winning the Velka Chuchle (2.55km) super special stage, held around a horse racing course near the Czech capital Prague.
The Toyota driver took the stage win by 0.6s from team-mate Takamoto Katsuta, making his return to the WRC after the team opted to bench the driver for last month's Rally Chile.
Ogier then trailed Neuville by 1.1s when the crews tackled stage two (Klatovy, 11.78km) as darkness descended on the slippery asphalt road. The Frenchman’s run did include a minor excursion across a grassbank.
Neuville made the most of starting first on the road to set the pace despite suffering cosmetic damage to the aero on the front right of his i20 N incurred after clipping a hay bale in the previous stage.
The Belgian was a second quicker than title rival and Hyundai team-mate Ott Tanak, whom he needs to outscore by two points this weekend to lift the world title.
“I can’t be happy, to be honest. I took off the aero on the front right by stupidly touching a straw bale, it will handicap me for the whole day tomorrow. Let’s see, it wasn’t too much of a disaster,” said Neuville.
Andreas Mikkelsen making a welcomed return to the WRC piloting Hyundai’s third i20 N headed into Friday’s stages sitting third overall, 1.7s adrift.
Mikkelsen attributed his pace to taking a different set-up direction that suited his driving style, having previously copied the set-ups of team-mates Neuville and Tanak at previous asphalt events.
“It was fun, now is the first time I have enjoyed driving the car on Tarmac,” said Mikkelsen.
“I changed a lot in my set-up and it was mind-blowing in there. It was really enjoyable to drive. It has been a long time since I have had that feeling. I’m looking forward to the weekend now.”
Katsuta also enjoyed the feeling behind the wheel of his GR Yaris to end the day in fourth overall, two seconds off the pace.
"Time is very good. I didn't push so much but I’m enjoying this car a lot, said Katsuta. “It was getting darker and darker all the time, but all the pace note information is going well. I need to be a bit steady tomorrow as it is the biggest day of the rally.”
Tanak rounded out the top five, three tenths faster than M-Sport-Ford’s Adrien Fourmuax, who finished ahead of Toyota’s Elfyn Evans (+3.1s) and Sami Pajari, competing in his first Rally1 outing on asphalt.
The top 10 was completed by M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster and WRC2 title contender Oliver Solberg, although the latter isn’t scoring championship points this weekend.
Solberg’s WRC2 title rival Yohan Rossel was incredibly fortunate not to roll his Citroen when he ran wide and clipped a hay bale that sent the car onto two wheels, destroying the right rear. The Frenchman dropped 33.1s to class leader Solberg.
Six stages in the Czech Republic await the crews on Friday before moving into Germany and Austria across the weekend.
