DOLGELLAU'S Elfyn Evans is in eighth position in the first ever Central European Rally, which got underway in the Czech capital city of Prague on Thursday.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver fell down to eighth spot after a brief overshoot at a junction in SS2.

The 34-year-old said: "It’s been quite a tricky start to the rally for us.

"I think there was a bit of road cleaning in the first stage, so the time wasn’t great there, and then in the second one the speed was OK but I missed my braking point in quite a fast place and had an overshoot and lost quite a bit of time.

"That was not ideal but otherwise, we had an OK feeling.

"It looks like it’s going to be a challenging weekend ahead with the weather that’s being forecast, and the stages have a lot of cuts and surface changes.

"Let’s see how well we can cope with that tomorrow.”

After crews discovered the asphalt stages in Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria during their reconnaissance earlier in the week, shakedown took place on Wednesday afternoon near the service park, which is located in the German city of Passau.

Crews then travelled to Prague for the start ceremony on Thursday lunchtime, which was followed by the opening competitive stage; a mixed-surface super special at the Velká Chuchle racecourse on the outskirts of the city.

A longer circuit on roads around the town of Klatovy was then run after sunset before the return to Passau.

Fan-favourite Thierry Neuville grabbed a slender overnight lead as the first-ever edition of Central European Rally got under way on Thursday.

Thousands of spectators descended on Czech capital Prague earlier today to witness the FIA World Rally Championship’s cars and stars flagged away by Czech President Petr Pavel.

Two quickfire super special tests followed as the rally journeyed back into south-eastern Germany where the Passau service park is located.

Neuville, driving a Hyundai i20 N, was third-fastest through the opening stage at Cluchle’s horseracing arena but a benchmark time for Circuit of Klatovy saw the Belgian leapfrog M-Sport Ford Puma driver Ott Tänak to lead by 1.2sec overnight.

“It was not the greatest stage,” Neuville said of his run over the damp roads of SS2. “I think it was in between the wet and the soft [tyres], and I decided to go to the soft at the very last moment.

"The anti-cut [devices] were reflecting from the light so we couldn’t see very well, but we had a clean run through.”

Eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier reported that he “did not have a good feeling” aboard his Toyota GR Yaris but did enough to secure the final podium spot. He trailed Tänak by 4.6sec with team-mate Kalle Rovanperä, the championship leader, a single tenth behind.

Rovanperä could clinch his second consecutive WRC title this week, depending on how he fares against colleague Elfyn Evans. An overshoot for Evans left the Welshman 4.8sec behind the Finn in eighth overall.