Central European Rally: Day 1
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing takes an early lead on German roads
WEBWIRE â Thursday, October 16, 2025
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team driver Sbastien Ogier claimed the early lead ahead of team-mate Kalle Rovanper as the Central European Rally got underway in Germany on Thursday.
The cross-border event marks the first asphalt round of the FIA World Rally Championship for six months, and action began on Thursday with shakedown near the service park in Passau, allowing teams and drivers to make any last setup adjustments before the first competitive stages. Ogier was fastest on his first and second runs of the shakedown and finished second quickest, just ahead of team-mate and closest championship rival Elfyn Evans.
There would be 25.66 competitive kilometres to tackle already on the opening day. These were formed by two passes of an extended version of the shakedown on roads around the Bavarian spa town of Bad Griesbach. Ogier was quickest in the afternoons first pass by 1.7 seconds over Rovanper and Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai). The second pass took place in the evening as darkness began to fall, and Rovanper was this time fastest by 0.1s over Ogier.
Ogier therefore leads Rovanper by 1.6s overnight. Sami Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta both also started well and are tied for fourth overall, just 5.6s from the lead, with Evans only 0.4s behind them in sixth.
Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
It has been a good start to the rally for us, but it is only the beginning and there will be more difficult stages and conditions to come. I knew that Seb could be tough to beat here as I think these stages suit him well, but Kalle has also made a good start. Elfyn is not really so far behind either, so I think we can look forward to a good fight between our three title-contending drivers while hopefully doing enough to wrap up the manufacturers championship as well. I was confident that Sami and Takamoto can be fast too on these asphalt roads, and its nice to see them also starting well.
Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
Its good to be back on asphalt here and getting the rally underway. I cant be too pleased with how the first stages have gone on my side. Its been a bit steady, with a few mistakes on the first pass and we were not quite fast enough on the second pass. We need to try and find something more for tomorrow; I think theres a few areas we can look at tonight to tweak some things. Its going to be a mixed day across three different countries and well have to wait and see how the weather is, but conditions in SS5 especially could be quite difficult.
Kalle Rovanper (Driver car 69)
Its been quite a good start to the rally for us; the feeling has been quite OK. We all had two hours to prepare for the second run, so the gaps were very small as expected with everyone on the limit. On the first pass there was already more leaves and dust coming onto the road than we expected, but I think that will be the case for the rest of the weekend, especially tomorrow. Hopefully for us being third on the road it wont be too bad.
Sbastien Ogier (Driver car 17)
Im happy with the start of the rally. Its only a small lead but its always good to be in the lead. Its been a good clean drive for us and Im pretty happy with the car. There was not so much difference between the two passes for me; maybe just a couple of corners where I was slightly too cautious on the second run through. This was only the starter and tomorrow the main course is coming and will probably be much more challenging, with difficult stages and conditions.
Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
It is very demanding like always here, but the car is working well and Im happy with how the rally has started for us, even though we have only done two stages and there is still a long way to go. Already there has been quite a lot of gravel coming on the road through the corners, so I can imagine that tomorrow the roads can be quite messy, especially the Czech stages where there are more opportunities to cut. It can be tricky but I will keep trying to do my best.
Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
To be in fourth place is a pretty solid start I think. Already in the first stage there were some slippery surprises so it was not easy to have trust going into the blind corners, but it was quite an OK run. I wasnt so satisfied with the second stage. It was not so easy for us in the dark, and tricky to read the amount of gravel on the road in places. So it wasnt the best stage but not bad, and overall its been a good start.
End of day one (Thursday):
1 Sbastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 12m48.4s
2 Kalle Rovanper/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1.6s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3.9s
4 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +5.6s
= Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +5.6s
6 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +6.0s
7 Ott Tnak/Martin Jrveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +6.1s
8 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +6.3s
9 Grgoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +15.4s
10 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +25.1s
(Results as of 18:40 on Thursday, for the latest results please visitwww.wrc.com)
Whats next?
Fridays route totals 99 competitive kilometres with one stage each in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic all to be run twice. There is no mid-day service, only a tyre-fitting zone in the Czech town of Kaplice between the two loops.
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