Tanak triumphs to set up world rally title decider in Japan

Ott Tanak won the Central European Rally on Sunday to leave his title aspirations alive going into the season finale in Japan next month.

Tanak's Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville leads the 2024 championship by 25 points after crossing the line in third place.

The Belgian, a five-time world rally runner-up, was hoping to tie up his maiden WRC crown with one rally to spare.

But the 36-year-old lost valuable time when his car spun into a ditch on Saturday.

He was not the only driver to make a mistake in this penultimate leg, spread over three countries, with eight-time former champion Sebastien Ogier crashing his Toyota into an electricity pole in Sunday's 17th stage whilst trailing Tanak by only 1.5sec.

That left Tanak in control, the 2019 world champion notching up his second win of the season after Sardinia back in June.

The Estonian moved on to 200 points for the year, with Neuville is in the driving seat on 225.

"Let's see (for the title). We took care to have a clean stage (after Ogier's crash) and bring the points home," Tanak said.

Neuville described the weekend in the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria, as "challenging".

"We wanted to bring home the title this weekend, but not at any price.

"For Japan we've got a comfortable lead. I'd like to say thanks to my team and  sorry for mistake, but even world champions make mistakes!"