Pajari rolled his car in a left-hand corner. The car ran wide and ended up in a ditch, after which Toyota’s Rally1 car rolled three times. Both Pajari and his co-driver Enni Mälkönen emerged from the crash unharmed, but their promising rally came to an abrupt end.
The Finnish driver was in sixth place at the time of the incident. Pajari had been driving steadily, gaining valuable experience on the challenging tarmac stages. Unfortunately, his first tarmac rally in a Rally1 car ended in disappointment.
Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen, who had already retired once on Friday, also faced problems. The Norwegian driver had to change a tyre at the start of the stage, losing nearly two minutes in the process. With that, Mikkelsen’s chances of fighting for points on Sunday slipped away.
“Front left puncture after some kilometres, when I changed I saw there was a small side cut on the tyre. We’re cutting where we can and try to be as close to the anticuts as we can,” Mikkelsen explained.
On the first stage of Super Sunday, the fastest time was set by M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux, who had already retired once earlier in the rally. The top contenders of the rally lost considerable time due to the conditions, as a lot of gravel and dirt had been dragged onto the road.
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans was second on the stage, 2.2 seconds behind Fourmaux. Takamoto Katsuta, also in a Toyota, was third ahead of Hyundai’s Ott Tänak and Thierry Neuville.
“Many surprises. We had one big slide on the beginning because it was full of gravel. Even towards the end, the anticuts have been moved. It is not nice. Just a tiny bit, the others are able to cut and the road is dirty” Neuville commented.
Sebastien Ogier, who had been leading the rally for Toyota, ran wide in a corner but quickly got back on the road. However, the incident cost him around ten seconds, dropping him to second place, 1.9 seconds behind Tänak.
“There was a lockup for us and we went straight,” Ogier said briefly.
There are still three stages to be run on Sunday in the Central European Rally.
Central European Rally standings SS15/18
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | 2:16:30.9 |
| 2. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +1.9 |
| 3. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +7.2 |
| 4. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +34.4 |
| 5. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +1:25.9 |
| 6. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +3:23.2 |
| 7. | Nikolay Gryazin | Citroen | +7:57.2 |
| 8. | Oliver Solberg | Skoda | +8:23.3 |
Super Sunday standings after SS1/4:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | 6.09,2 |
| 2. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +2,2 |
| 3. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +3,1 |
| 4. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +3,6 |
| 5. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | +3,8 |
| 6. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +9,5 |
| 7. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +10,9 |
Central European Rally itinerary (CET) :
Thursday, 17 October 09.31 Shakedown: Točná (2.11 km) 15.05 SS1: SSS Velká Chuchle (2.55 km) 18.26 SS2: Klatovy 1 (11.78 km) Friday, 18 October 08.02 SS3: Klatovy 2 (11.78 km) 09.32 SS4: Strašín 1 (26.69 km) 10.42 SS5: Šumavské Hoštice 1 (16.85 km) 13.11 SS6: Klatovy 3 (11.78 km) 14.28 Remote Service (30 min) 16.14 SS7: Strašín 2 (26.69 km) 17.24 SS8: Šumavské Hoštice 2 (16.85 km) Saturday, 19 October 07.58 SS9: Granit und Wald 1 (20.05 km) 09.05 SS10: Beyond Borders 1 (24.33 km) 10.34 SS11: Schärdinger Innviertel 1 (17.35 km) 12.10 Service (40 min) 14.28 SS12: Granit und Wald 2 (20.05 km) 15.35 SS13: Beyond Borders 2 (24.33 km) 17.04 SS14: Schärdinger Innviertel 2 (17.35 km) Sunday, 20 October 09.11 SS15: Am Hochwald 1 (12.17 km) 10.35 SS16: Passauer Land 1 (14.87 km) 11.33 SS17: Am Hochwald 2 (12.17 km) 13.15 SS18: Passauer Land 2 (14.87 km)
