Ogier takes early lead at the Rally Central Europe

(Motorsport-Total.com) - Sebastien Ogier has taken the lead after the first two special stages of the Rally Central Europe, moving him ahead of his title rival Kalle Rovanperä. The Frenchman, who is aiming for his ninth world championship title, set the standard on the asphalt on Thursday and heads into Friday with a 1.6-second lead over his Toyota teammate.

The twelfth WRC round kicked off with two runs of the 12.83-kilometer "Golf and Therme" special. Ogier made optimal use of his starting position on the clean road in the first run, finishing 1.7 seconds faster than Rovanperä and Hyundai driver Adrien Fourmaux, who achieved exactly the same time.

With each car, the track became increasingly dirtier, even though the organizers had installed numerous "anti-cut" elements to prevent dirt from being stirred up.

The second run took place at dusk – only the two top teams were still able to complete the course without headlights. Ogier was 0.6 seconds faster than in the first run, but narrowly lost the stage win. 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 couldn't get beyond fifth place in the second run, hampered by the darkness. Nevertheless, the Frenchman defended third place overall, 3.9 seconds behind Ogier.

"Of course, it's not entirely fair that we have to ride 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 there was another second in it, but the lights didn't shine over the crest, so I couldn't see the line properly. It's okay."

Toyota drivers Sami Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta are tied for fourth place, 5.6 seconds behind the leader.

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, making him 0.2 seconds faster than teammate Thierry Neuville, who is driving the current works car.

The top 10 was completed by M-Sport Ford drivers Gregoire Munster and Josh McErlean ahead of the best WRC2 driver Alejandro Cachon.

On Friday, six asphalt stages with a total of 99 kilometers await the teams.