News and quotes after the saturday leg

That was the third day of the Central European Rally 2025! After an action-packed day and some dramatic retirements, Kalle Rovanperä arrived at the Dreiländerhalle in Passau as the overall leader ahead of Ott Tänak, where the teams drove through the final service. In the WRC2 and Rally2 classes, local heroes are dominating the action behind Oliver Solberg, who has already secured the lead: Jan Černý (Skoda Fabia), Filip Mareš (Toyota Yaris, both CZE) and Philip Geipel (Toyota Yaris, GER) occupy second to fourth place. What Kalle Rovanperä is in WRC1, Ali Türkkan is in WRC3 / JWRC: the Ford driver from Turkey leads JWRC leader Taylor Gill (AUS) by 36.4 seconds at the end of rally day 3. Here are the statements from selected drivers at the finish line:

#33 Elfyn Evans (GBR) / Scott Martin (GBR), Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

’Of course, I'm not really happy with today. We're simply lacking a lot of speed, especially on the clean and dry stages. It wasn't my best day. I think tomorrow will be similar. It looks like it will stay dry.‘

#69 Kalle Rovanperä (FIN) / Jonne Halttunen (FIN), Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

’We had a good day. It was a challenging and difficult day, but to be honest, it went quite well. It's a shame what happened to Seb, of course, but at least we were able to stay out of trouble. I expect a big, big battle tomorrow. Everyone will be fighting very hard for the points.‘

#8 Ott Tänak (EST) / Martin Järveoja (EST), Hyundai i20 N Rally1

’Today was a solid day. The pace was better and we were driving at a consistently good speed. We didn't have any bad stages like we did yesterday. So we can be quite satisfied.‘

#1 Thierry Neuville (BEL) / Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL), Hyundai i20 N Rally1

’The balance is relatively okay on the German stages and the car is also driving reasonably well. But we are having really big problems on the difficult stages in Czechia. Another difficult day. But we were able to gather some interesting information from the day. Tomorrow we will continue to try something. Our thoughts are already in Japan, and we want to take the opportunity tomorrow to test some more things to improve the car.‘

#18 Takamoto Katsuta (JPN) / Aaron Johnston (IRL), Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

’I had a good and consistent day. I set the fastest time twice and felt good in the car. Only the middle stage was difficult.‘

#20 Oliver Solberg (SWE) / Elliott Edmondson (GBR), Toyota GR Yaris

’It was a very challenging day. The conditions kept changing, but it was really fun. We are learning a lot, and driving in the dark is always something special. It's been a long time since I've been on asphalt, so I'm very happy with this strong result so far and the big lead. Now I just have to bring it home tomorrow. It should be a nice, clean day, I think – with great stages, fairly fluid and hopefully dry.‘

#24 Jan Černý (CZE) / Ondřej Krajča (CZE), Skoda Fabia RS

’I'm happy because we've improved compared to yesterday. We did a better job today, which is perfect. I'm very happy about that. So yes, I'm really satisfied with today. We need to maintain our pace tomorrow and, if possible, pick it up a little bit.‘

#27 Filip Mareš (CZE) / Radovan Bucha (CZE), Toyota GR Yaris

’It was another really interesting day for us. In the morning, I wasn't entirely satisfied with my driving. I had a bit of trouble finding the right feeling in the car. Fortunately, we were able to improve that on the second loop. We won two stages, which is obviously really good. It's always nice to see your name ahead of people like Oliver Solberg and other well-known drivers in our class in the results list. So overall, it was a great day for us. Tomorrow will be quite difficult. We're expecting more challenging conditions and perhaps changing temperatures. We saw today how quickly everything can change, and we know that anything can happen in a long rally. So we'll be pushing hard right to the end. At the moment, we're back on the podium, which is great – but of course we'd be even happier if we were a little further ahead tomorrow.‘

#28 Fabio Schwarz (GER) / Pascal Raabe (GER), Toyota GR Yaris

‘All in all, the day went much better. I think we were able to improve again in the afternoon. We also became more familiar with the chassis. I would say that I was able to improve a little bit myself. You can immediately tell that you have a better rhythm and are much more in tune with the car. That's how we achieved those times.’

#32 Taylor Gill (AUS) / Daniel Brkic (AUS), Ford Fiesta Rally3

’Overall, it was a pretty positive day today. We won a few stages and have now climbed up to second place. So yes, it was a really good day. I don't think it will be any easier tomorrow – we still have a lot of kilometres ahead of us and no service. So we have to drive smart. However, the stages are a little easier than those in Czechia, especially in terms of visibility.‘

#35 Ali Türkkan (TUR) / Oytun Albayrak (TUR), Ford Fiesta Rally3

’Of course, it could have gone even better, with a few more stage wins, but at least we are now in the lead here – so it was a good day. We won another stage on the last stage, in the dark – and when you push at night and then win the stage, it just means more. So yes, we are really happy with ourselves. I think the CER is great because you see a lot of people from three different countries here, and you try to organise an event without any mistakes. A big thank you to the organisers, all the marshals and the fans who make this rally so special. A lot of hard work goes into it. And tomorrow is already the last day. It may be the final day, but the long stage is still ahead of us – and two runs mean around 50 kilometres. So anything can still happen. We may be leading by half a minute or so, but we have to keep pushing and bring this thing home.‘

#41 Philip Geipel (GER) / Jennifer Lerch (GER), Toyota GR Yaris Rally2

’We've covered 550 kilometres in the rally car. So it's been a long and breathtaking day. Really cool. Absolutely slippery and also great special stages. Klatovy was so much fun. The stage in the dark was also great fun. We got through quickly and cleanly without taking any risks. We're enjoying it to the full. Tomorrow it will be light, so I can drive faster – I can never see anything in the dark.‘