The Hyundai driver, Thierry Neuville, has attained a notable advantage in the World Rally Championship after a Saturday full of incidents in Croatia, where several punctures have altered the classification.
Neuville, who started the day 13.8 seconds behind the leader, Toyota’s Sami Pajari, finished the day with a margin of 1 minute and 14.5 seconds ahead of Japanese Takamoto Katsuta, who holds the second position, before the four asphalt stages on Sunday.
The Belgian driver expressed satisfaction with his vehicle’s performance: “Everything has come together perfectly this weekend. The car has felt better from the start, and we have been able to improve step by step throughout the event,” Neuville remarked.
The change in the classification came during the fourteenth stage, where the route was filled with sharp rocks. Pajari had to spend more than two minutes changing a wheel, which caused him to fall to third position after leading the race since the third stage.
The Finnish driver seemed disappointed but tried to downplay his performance: “We are still on the podium, but there are not many positive aspects to take from this afternoon. Tomorrow will be another day. Who knows, but I am naturally dissatisfied,” said Pajari, who is now 1 minute and 46.4 seconds from the lead.
Drivers who were close to the leaders, like Katsuta, Hyundai’s Hayden Paddon, and the two M-Sport-Ford cars, Josh McErlean and Jon Armstrong, also suffered punctures, adding more drama to a complicated day.
Katsuta had his own puncture in the left front tire but managed to finish the stage with a loss of 1 minute and 28.3 seconds. Paddon was also affected, and his time of 3 minutes and 28.2 seconds behind Neuville places him in fourth place.
Although Hyundai finished with two of its drivers in the top five, driver Adrien Fourmaux retired after hitting a gantry due to a puncture.
On the other side of the championship, the M-Sport-Ford team also experienced complicated moments, with McErlean dealing with a fire inside the vehicle during stage 10, and Armstrong showed good speeds but did not manage to win any stages.
In the WRC2 category, Yohan Rossel leads the classification before Sunday with a 1 minute and 3.2 seconds advantage over his brother Leo, who drives a Citroën C3 Rally2.
