Hyundai Motorsport return to European soil this week for the Central European Rally, round 12 of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). With the drivers’, co-drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships in close contention, the team will do everything it can to bring home all three titles following a highly competitive season.
Despite a difficult time in the previous round, Rally Chile, Hyundai Motorsport managed to maintain its lead in the standings. With just two rounds remaining, Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe sit 29 points ahead of their fellow Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team crew Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja in both the drivers’ and co-drivers’ championship.
With its debut on the WRC calendar last year, the Central European Rally was won by Neuville and Wydaeghe, Neuville’s 19th career victory at the time. Tänak/Järveoja were third on the podium.
Alongside the Belgian and Estonian duos, Hyundai Motorsport’s three-crew event line-up is also set to feature Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen for the fourth time this season. The Norwegian crew stormed to WRC2 championship victory at the European event almost exactly 12 months ago, a feat that stands the pair in good stead for this year’s outing in Rally1.
Similarly to last season, the Central European Rally will take place across Czechia, Germany and Austria. The unique border-crossing rally traverses 302,51 km in competitive distance and covers a contrasting variety of tarmac across the three countries.
Crews will rely even more on pace notes as car setup becomes less manageable with the constant change in surface. With autumn conditions in the region, the weather could alter the terrain across the stages, turning what should be high-grip roads into slippery surfaces.
An additional obstacle for the crews is a change in itinerary for 2024. Three new stages will grace this year’s schedule: Granit und Wald (SS9/12; 20,05 km), Beyond Borders (SS10/13; 24,33 km) and Am Hochwald (SS15/18; 14,87 km). Strašín (SS4/7; 26,69 km), a reworking of last year’s Zvotoky, will feature on Friday with a new stage start and end.
Hyundai Motorsport president and team principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “The team is very excited to compete on home soil again, especially as we are now at the crucial point of the season. We need to maintain our lead in all three championships, and a clean performance at the Central European Rally is essential. Thierry won here last year, and we know how strong he is on tarmac, so anything is possible across the weekend.
“As well as the push for the drivers’ and co-drivers’ titles, we also have the contest for the manufacturers’ trophy, and we have three strong crews fighting for that too. Ott finished third here last year, and we know tarmac is a surface that Andreas can push on, particularly following his WRC2 title win at the event in 2023.”
Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/ Martijn Wydaeghe
Neuville said: “Last year we had a great victory at the very first Central European Rally. We know we perform well on tarmac, and winning in Germany was super cool for the whole team. Despite difficult conditions, we performed well. Because of the stage changes we need to do some video work, so we will be studying those as much as possible to get a good feel of the new areas.”
Crew Notes: Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja
Tänak said: “I enjoy the type of roads at the Central European Rally the most of all tarmac rallies. Large sections of the roads will be new this year, which should make it interesting. Last year road position was very important on the first day; because of the wet weather, the road was getting dirty quickly from every car that came through. The weather will play a critical role this year as well.
“Austria and Germany are similar with roads in between fields and many junctions, but the Czech roads are usually in the forests with broken tarmac and many cuts. We will only find out during the recce what the roads look like this year.”
Crew Notes: Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen
Mikkelsen said: “I remember the Central European Rally well from last year, it is where we clinched the WRC2 title. Overall, I would say it is a difficult rally because there’s so much gravel and mud being pulled out from the road. The conditions are very demanding; there’s a lot of cutting going on and very easy to make a mistake.
“I’m really looking forward to the rally because I will have a pretty different approach compared to Monte Carlo and Croatia. At that time, the car was still quite new for me so there were still things to get used to. I will have that new approach in the Central European Rally, go there and give a good result to help the team maintain its lead in the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships.”
Weekend at a glance
The rally begins on Thursday with the 2,55 km Velká Chuchle and the 11,78 km Klatovy 1 special stages. Friday’s stages are set to cover 110,64 km of Czech roads and includes the longest test of the weekend: SS4/7 Strašín (26,69 km).
The 123,46 km of competitive running on Saturday forms the longest day of the event, featuring the innovative new SS10/13 Beyond Borders (24,33 km) – crossing the lines between Germany and Austria.
Four stages make up the final day of action: SS15/17 Knaus Tabbert Am Hochwald (12,17 km) and SS16/18 Passauer Land (14,87 km).
