1. Central European Rally 2023
25. 10. – 29. 10. 2023, Passau • Central European Rally Event GmbH + ADAC Südbayern e.V. • asphalt 310.01 km • total distance including road sections - 1690.67 km • Other years
Info
SS18
"First of all really a relief to be at the finish, but I think overall done a very good job - good consistency which basically paid off. Just can say thank you to the team, it was a team effort this weekend and we did it. Now I can look forward to the last race of the year where we're going to focus on another victory."
"I am feeling really good! I think this year is for me personally more important than last year. The competition was tighter, we did a good job. Big thanks to Jonne, he is the world's best co-driver and the team is the best as well. It's nice - I cannot say much more. I'm going to enjoy this one more than the first one."
"Podium is always welcome. It's been tough and now with all these junctions it's been difficult to stay on the pace, but still we just had to manage safe today. We did that, and definitely great for everyone in the team."
"Day one was disaster for us so after that we had an OK rally. Was not so much we could do with our start position this weekend but a bit better than that was possible. Now looking forward to Japan and trying to finish a season on a high."
"We had a good end of the weekend, but a lot of things need to improve. It was very difficult to find a balance to this different kind of condition. For sure next rally is my home country, so I need a big push there."
"Yeah I would say the rally was quite good. It was super tricky, first time on Tarmac a lot of learning. I felt the rally was changing every day and I needed to adapt, and at this level we need to adapt from the first kilometer. Big thanks to the team."
"Just super delighed. I want to thank Jourdan [Serderidis] and M-Sport for the chance they gave us. We try to grab the opportunity with both hands, we just enjoy every kilometer."
"For sure we will remember the positives. Disappointed with that [issue]. We have not been super lucky this year. Thanks to everybody at M-Sport, they tried so hard this year. Unfortunately we didn't do any good season but I hope we will all continue to work together in Monte with a fresh mindset."
"You have to try. In fairness Kalle was anyway very, very strong on Friday and we didn't have the pace to follow him. It was really important to keep in front of Thierry - didn't work out this time, that's the way it goes. I wish the guys the best, they've done an incredible season. Well done to those guys."
"It was a fantastic weekend for us. We have been pushing really hard after our puncture on Friday. It's been a really good season and a great way to end our season in the Rally2 car."
"It was not an easy rally definitely. Today the target was to finish on the podium. Thanks to my team, partners, family and also the spectators as the home crowd was really incredible. Hopefully you enjoyed it as much as we did in the car."
SS17
"I think the target is still to bring home first the result. Of course we are fighting P2 for the championship but it won't change our lives, we have been many times P2. It's been a while since we have been on the top step, we deserve it so we want to bring it home."
"It's a nice feeling. Everything has been going well and we are just enjoying in the car. Not worried about the times, just trying to have fun in the car and focusing on the next stage."
"The gear level is still there, so we will manage! At the moment powerstage points are worth nothing."
"I take care a bit [of the tires], I know how to do that, and it's working."
"It's good to have some gap for next one. I try to push next one to try and get some [bonus] points for myself. It's very important to finish with a good feeling for Japan."
"He is just doing a better job, nothing else."
"To get a bit more used to the aero and stuff we put some hard tires on the car so it's working better. Driving with a mixed package is good experience."
"Transmission is broken so if I want to see the finish I need to drive slowly. It's feeling worse and worse but unfortunately it's like that."
SS16
"I'm not sure I'm really enjoying it, just trying to get through without any technical issue, without any puncture, without any mistakes."
"Of course the driving is the same, we try to concentrate and do our job without mistakes. But of course there is a bigger goal at the end of the day waiting for us which we try to reach."
"We tried, we tried for sure. Lost the gear knob in the stage so it was a bit challenging, but all good. I try to keep it on because I need it!"
"More cuts in this one so it's no surprise that it's going faster from the front."
"It's not easy because some corners you can see a lot of mud. I was way, way too careful because I expected more mud, but OK we are quicker [than Teemu]. I thought it was quite a bad run but it's OK."
"It was OK stage for us - a bit careful in the middle section, but there are a few muddy places so you need to be careful."
"90% is perfectly dry and you can push a lot, and then some section a lot of leaves on the road. We are taking it easy."
"We broke the transmission after the second corner. When I brake all the front locks and everything. It was stupid to try to attack, but we did a small off after that. I think on the front-left the driveshaft failed, so we see."
"Quite OK, I guess it's going to be quite a lot dirtier when it counts later."
Off road
SS15
"Everything going to plan - clean run through the stage, no risks. Up to the next one."
"We are just enjoying, and now the weather is a bit better it's a bit nicer you can enjoy the driving a bit. Nothing crazy, just try and enjoy the day."
"All fine. Quite high grip, still some dirt but obviously a lot less than we have seen previously."
"All fine, just had to see the pollution, how much was coming on the inside. So I was definitely on the safe side, but I definitely need to keep pushing."
"I tried to be careful with the tires but I think I should have pushed more."
"It's much easier than the previous day, but the soft tire is overheating a bit so just need to manage. Good learning."
"For sure it's much more enjoyable, very fast stages. We try to take easy and see in terms of the second pass."
"It's pretty dry and clean in there overall, some slippy sections under the trees where it's damp."
Mechanical on road section
SS14
Off road
Off road
Off road
"I've never done Monte, but it looks like."
Off road
"Such a crazy stage, mud everywhere, many people with lights, atmosphere like on Monte."
"I just wanted to end the day with somehow a good feeling, so I tried to drive a bit. It's good to be at the finish of the day, it's tough out there. I think this is the toughest Tarmac conditions I have ever seen, I don't think you can call it Tarmac on this stage."
"It was probably the most enjoyable stage for me this weekend. I like driving in the dark and this was fun. I took it carefully, basically all afternoon trying to manage the gap. We are following our target."
"Previous stage we lost hydraulic pressure, and first hairpin I reverse and next place where it was slippy I had stupid instinct to pull the handbrake and it locked the front wheels."
"At least I wanted to be in front of Teemu, I try of course, but quite scary! I'm very happy to finish the day. Tricky stage."
Off road
"It was like Rally GB more than anything else! I was just making it through in this one, it's not really enjoyable when you have absolutely no grip with slick tires."
"It felt quite OK, but I'm not sure if we are in Central Europe or Monte Carlo because the grip was so low, it was so muddy!"
"It was very demanding, very difficult to see the grip - Tarmac or mud I don't know. I think the idle is dropping too low, I stalled again, so we have to check if we can solve that."
"I was not thinking that it was so slippery in the forest, and on the right, long corner that closes I go straight, I stalled so I lost a lot of time."
Off road
SS13
Puncture
"It's a bit more difficult [having to survive]. Usually it's easier when you have proper pace, now when you are braking more and some sections you try and be fast it's not so easy. But anyway I think we are doing OK. The only goal is to finish now."
"It's very hard to say which rhythm to go. I had a clean stage. Obviously the rain tire on the rear is still moving a bit, and on the next one if the rain comes we are on the safe side with three wets."
"I had an OK feeling, I tried a bit more. Next one will be demanding [in the dark]. It was demanding already in the daylight."
"It's more enjoyable with the condition this afternoon, it's fun to drive now. At least we enjoy the afternoon so far."
"It is like a Monte, many dry roads and then suddenly muddy corners when you have to kill the speed. Good learning for the next year."
"Maybe the most difficult stage so far."
SS12
"I had one instance where the pedal went all the way to the metal, so that was a scary moment but we're here."
"It's actually quite nice to have some slick tires under the car. Still having one wet is not perfect, but there's still a lot of mud and tricky places which I take carefully but otherwise I try to enjoy."
"Not the optimum for this stage, I had to take care a lot on all the left handers to not overload the tire, but other than that it was a clean stage for us."
"Some places tricky, some muddy places, but we had a clean run."
"I was struggling a lot this morning. Still not the perfect feeling but engineers changed my brain, so now finally it works!"
"First time of the weekend we have a bit of a grip, but in the mud it's extremely slippy. The grip changes are actually bigger than before."
"There was a big cut with a lot of mud and I just missed it a bit, so I couldn't keep it in the line. It's much more difficult to drive this car when it's dry with the Rally1. Now you see what it's like to come to this car from Rally2."
"It was very different. Still tricky with the softs but very enjoyable."
Spin
SS11
Accident
"I made a mistake and were off."
"We are like a school drivers, we hit a concrete block on a junction."
Spin
"I could be more quicker on this stage, but there is a lot of mud and risk was high."
"I knew that Elfyn is off, so why would I risk anything anymore? Really a shame for Elfyn and Scott, I hope they are OK. They put on a good fight and it would have been really tricky for us to keep pushing. Being last car on the road this morning was really tricky. Now the goal is a bit different, we just try and finish. We also had our moment on the previous stage but we kept it together, let's try and finish it now."
"Obviously disappointed for Elfyn, his championship hopes obviously gone now but that's rallying."
Accident
"For me it's very difficult to drive, I don't have the feeling - like really struggling. I don't know why, I need to find out."
"It's very dirty in there, we are not fighting for anything so not so much risk for us."
"It was super slippy Tarmac and I couldn't trust the grip, so wasn't ideal but I keep going."
"I stalled in a hairpin, had to restart the car. But I try to be efficient, I don't know where I lost the bumper."
SS10
Water pump
Second retirement (accident)
Second retirement (broken wheel studts)
Accident
Puncture
"I had a spin in one slippy braking which was much slippier than I expected. It's difficult to know where the guys pull the dirt on the road. A lot of s*** on the road it's not easy. Everything should be OK, let's try to stay on the Tarmac now!"
"It was OK, still not as I'd like but we're getting closer to what we need."
"We have to continue to do what we can."
"We had a puncture in the road section. Wow it was demanding. And this little kick [man-made jump] hybrid gone as well."
"No issues, just so many surprises I couldn't trust the pacenotes. So not easy."
Overshoot a hairpin, off road
"The end was a bit better but I really struggled at the start. A little bit misunderstanding with the notes."
"My focus is to improve my driving and become a bit faster."
"The last part was surprisingly slippery, so the tire was just not working."
"It was very, very demanding in some places, quite muddy. We lost completely the front tires 5km from the end so I was very cautious and we do a small mistake on a junction. It was tricky."
SS9
Second retirement
"We started with quite careful pace, nothing too much and for sure the guys are pushing so if we can be close to that pace then it's OK."
"There was a bit of rain but not too much. Still struggling a bit with the handling in general. Towards the end a lot of long corners where I cannot commit. But we're going to do some small changes now to see if we can improve."
"Like always in these conditions there's always bits you can do better, but yeah it's OK."
"It's a bit less wet, still very tricky in places, quite many grip chanegs so not much easier [than yesterday]."
"It's still not a great stage from me I believe, but it's OK. Still getting quickly dirty after a few cars, so we try to get a decent rhythm. Today I feel a little bit better honestly so I have to try and make a better day."
"I was just a tiny bit too late on the brake so I had to go straight on and onto the grass."
"It's very, very slippery, much more than expected. It was already very demanding, and it's tricky."
SS8
First retirement (accident)
"On the first braking the front completely locked on the braking, I was not thinking that it was so slippery so I go straight and I had to reverse. When I wanted to change the wheel all the mud was on the wheel, I had to pull all the grass off so we lost a lot of time."
"It's been a really tricky day, a lot of mud, but nice stages and we enjoyed our first day. Still tricky to find where is the limit with such cars."
"It's been a super tricky day, lots of mud and hard to read the grip level. Hopefully we can do good progress tomorrow."
"The conditions are changing a lot. Even this one, before the stage there was no rain but then it started so not easy to judge. Very tricky day."
"Not the day we wanted, but now the good news is this day is over."
"We have no gear lever for the last 5-7km. I don't know why it happens to me, probably too much time in the gym!"
Changed a wheel
"I thought we were losing time, but maybe in some places it cleaned the road, I don't know. I didn't do anything different to the stage before."
"I knew... I sort of had a few moments in slippy places, I wasn't able to take the full potential. I was expecting it to be more slippy in some places. It's not been a good run."
"It has been a super tricky day. Luckily the weather was once on our side let's say, in starting position it was good to be first car. This one I struggled a bit to get the feeling, let's hope Elfyn is not way too much faster."
SS7
Fanbelt
"I have to survive like this, there's no way we can fix it before tonight. Just a small bump in the road could damage the rear and we'd have to retire, so we have to be clever."
"The tyre was overheating and we made the whole car softer. When you are in the cuts it's ok, but on the dry tarmac it's moving a lot. A bit of a new feeling so I didn't want to risk anything."
"I am trying to do what I can but we are struggling a bit. I think it was not so bad in the stage but the time is not so nice."
"It's tricky - slippy. I think I took it too carefully in the muddy places but I will try to improve my driving."
"Very, very tricky. Even more high-speed than the previous one and lots of mud. We had a big moment also, the mud pulled us out and we were rearly into the big trees. Quite lucky!"
"Nothing new, we are just coming through. The conditions are probably still getting worse and worse"
"Just go through basically."
"The tyre is moving a bit, but generally I have no grip. I am really fighting to keep the car on the road, but it is what it is. It was drying a bit in sections but as soon as you want to go faster you go in the dirt. Not an easy stage but definetely better conditions than this morning"
"I had a really bad feeling, so I was hoping he was a bit the same but clearly not. The tyres were moving quite a lot to be honest."
"I was quite careful on the first stage of this loop, because it was the first time for me when we had so much mud. Now it was a bit more clear how to go, and I tried to go a bit faster. Hopefully it's a good time."
SS6
Accident
"For sure, some sections are a bit drier but there is still a lot of mud. For me, the bigger problem is that I have no hybrid. It's okay, I am used to this, but I have a lot of hybrid issues"
Hybrid issues
The gravel crew is important, but here not so much because it's full of mud anyway from the morning. We knew this after the first pass already"
"To be honest I can't do more, had a clean stage in there."
"It's pretty horrific conditions, but did what we could."
"It's definitely quite tricky. Even though the weather is drying up the stages are really dirty. I hope this one was the worst of the loop."
SS5
Fire on front left wheel
"We're not where we need to be, struggling like hell with the car, feels terrible to drive. I can't feel anything through the seat - struggling."
"We changed the rear toe arm, but we also destroyed the damper so every compression we have to be very careful and just make the best out of the situation. It's a shame it's not service, but we just have to survive the day."
"We like this condition, we're just struggling on throttle in the mud. The first one was the appetiser, the last one was the main course and this was the cherry on the cake."
"The conditions are very difficult and the grip was very strange in this one - no rain but it was tricky. It was demanding."
"It's getting super muddy and I'm not having trust or confidence to go there. So time is running [away]."
"Quite messy in some places. I think the afternoon is going to be even worse, let's see"
"It hasn't been a great day so far"
"It's been rough, yeah. Conditions were a bit better so a bit more consistent, but can't say we are really going fast at the moment."
"I kept the spring from shakedown which were obviously way too hard, and I have to keep that for all the day so it won't get any easier."
"Again I was kicking myself for being a bit too careful in some places, but it's pretty tricky in these conditions."
Accident
"I don't think the push is big but the condition is for sure good for the first car. This one was maybe the easiest of the loop, it's not raining anymore."
SS4
"We just hit gravel, I didn't expect gravel in the corner there. I just went too fast."
"I just tried to be really, really tidy in that stage, to not have any drama or hot moments because when you have so many hot moments it's hard to stay clean."
"The engine is sounding very, very strange on the over-run."
"We are quite happy with the pace in general, but we are just having moments and losing the time in the mud."
Damaged suspension
Off road, restarted
"For sure, some sections feel good but in some sections the conditions are changing a lot. It's very difficult to trust the information so we just need to find the balance"
"It's fine. I mean, for sure you need to be safe. There is a lot of mud coming from the cuts so you cannot commit like you would like to, but when you know there is an anti-cut then you can do it. It's just balancing between these two approaches, let's say"
"I have no motivation.."
"I'm trying but we are out of options. There's no tools to put the wet setup on this car, so undrivable for me. It's not forgiving at all, it will be a long day."
"The conditions are really, really tricky. The visibility's bad and we lost the car a little bit in the fast section. I can tell you at that speed with all the surprises, it's really dangerous."
"I was just a bit careful I think, that's all."
"It was not so easy to get on the pace here. We got the info that this was to be even more wet than the first one, so I think I was a bit too careful in many places."
Overshoot a junction
SS3
Puncture
Puncture
Puncture
"It's already difficult enough like this, but with a puncture it's even more. It's really a shame to start the rally like this, but I stay focused and see what happens in front."
Puncture
"Just halfway through the stage I said to Jonas 'we've got a slow puncture' and then it came off the rim. I don't know where it happeend."
Puncture
"Sorry for these guys [Rossel], it was not easy. For sure I think in Rally2 we don't have gravel crews, and in conditions like this it's very dangerous. I don't think Rally1 crews are worth more than Rally2 crews."
Accident
"Difficult! Very demanding. I was surprised by the grip - it was changing a lot and it started to be very muddy on the road. It's very easy to do a mistake."
Puncture
"It's hard to trust the pace notes because so much mud is coming. For sure the gravel crew did a good job but there is still a lot of things that are unexpected. It's not easy"
"I am very, very, very much surprised! For sure, as we saw, it gets muddier and muddier. I was not expecting this kind of time but I will take it!"
"Unbelievable... What can I say? On the road there is already a lot of dirt."
Front-right tyre damaged - broken rim
"No story at all... It's difficult to drive, a bit of a challenge"
"I was struggling to see the road. I opened all the windows to get some air in but it's getting very, very dirty"
"Quite muddy, especially in the cuts. Not easy trying to feel your way into the grip. A difficult start"
"It's difficult. A lot of water, much more than expected, a lot of gravel crews already take some mud on the road. It will be a big challenge."
Mechanical before SS3
Didn't start car in parc ferme
SS2
Rolled
Overshoot a junction
"It didn't feel good at all, especially in the high speeds the car was trying to break away a bit. But for sure tomorrow is going to be a difficult day."
"We had a problem to gears some shifts."
"Not an easy stage to start, I was surprised the grip was very low. But that shows that tomorrow looks to be very difficult I think."
"I must say it was really tricky, first time on the wet with this car. It was a steady start and I know where to take a lot of time."
"I didn't have any feeling on this stage. Real start is tomorrow."
"It was a bit challenging, there was not too much water but it was wet enough to not get enough temperature in."
"It was not the greatest stage. The anti-cuts were reflecting the light. I decided to go with soft tyres."
"I had an overshoot at one of the junctions, just locked up at one of the brakings so it's a shame for that."
"We expected some rain here. It was not easy."
SS1
Missed corner -> drove in wrong direction to get back
"We chose bad tyres, wet tyres. Hope on next will rain."
"After all troubles we had after the last weekend we can be happy."
"It's not bad! Not a long day on the stages but that's great for the spectators."
About the championship battle : "Of course I can (win), that's why I'm here! Does it rain this afternoon or not?"
Small rear-left damage. "A chicane was narrower than I thought."
"It was a quite interesting stage. It will really start tomorrow."
"This stage was fun. I hope the next stage will be damp!"
"I'm learning, we have crossed tyres on tarmac, that's a first for me."
"It was a good start, on wet tyres wasn't the ideal. let's see proper stages."
"I try to improve my driving."
"It's kind of a track stage. Let's see on the next stage if there is rain or not."
"Today is really great, tomorrow is an other story..."
"The conditions seems to be challenging tomorrow, we will see."
"It's a good start, but there is some other guys to come. There is a championship battle, the rhythm will be fast."
"The gap doesn't mean so much at the moment."
"It was not the best start."
"Incredible feeling to start first a WRC event in Czech Republic!"/