Elfyn Evans took the win in FIA WRC Rally Croatia from Ott Tanak and Esapekka Lappi as they all raced in honour of Craig Breen.
Friday:
Thierry Neuville led throughout Friday’s treacherous opening leg despite only winning one stage of Croatia Rally. It was the Hyundai i20 N driver’s consistency which ultimately came to the fore as asphalt roads in the hills west of capital city Zagreb tested the mettle of the FIA World Rally Championship’s leading crews. He ended the gruelling day just 5.7sec clear of second-placed challenger Elfyn Evans.
Neuville was unhappy with his car’s morning set-up but swooped into the lead after SS2 when championship leader Sébastien Ogier, winner of the day’s opener, dropped over one and a half minutes carrying out a mid-stage wheel change on his Toyota GR Yaris.
The Belgian remained at the helm throughout the afternoon although Evans, driving another Toyota, sliced his advantage by more than half as scattered rain clouds loomed over the stages. Both drivers stuck to a mixed combination of hard and soft compound Pirelli tyres, which proved to be the right choice.
One driver for whom tyre gambles did not pay off was Ott Tänak. The Estonian bolted wet weather rubber onto his M-Sport Ford Puma for Stojdraga – Hartje 2, however, conditions remained mostly dry and he fell behind Esapekka Lappi after dropping 17.0sec. Tänak responded in the penultimate stage by ousting the Hyundai man to reclaim third overall, reaching the overnight halt 3.4sec clear of his rival and 24.3sec adrift of Evans. Ogier, meanwhile, valiantly fought his way back up to fifth another 50.3sec in arrears.
Takamoto Katsuta overtook Pierre-Louis Loubet in the final stage to grab sixth, while Kalle Rovanperä languished in eighth overall. The Yaris youngster won last year’s fixture but currently trails the frontrunners by over two minutes after he too stopped to change a wheel at the same location as team-mate Ogier. WRC2 leader Yohan Rossel was ninth and held a sizeable 29.9sec advantage over Nikolay Gryazin, second in the category.
Saturday:
Elfyn Evans is verging on a long-elusive FIA World Rally Championship victory after seizing the Croatia Rally lead in Saturday’s penultimate leg. The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver assumed control of the gruelling asphalt event early in the day when Thierry Neuville, who had led by 5.7sec on Friday evening, crashed into retirement on the second stage.
Neuville’s Hyundai i20 N stepped out of line and collided with a concrete block which caused severe damage to the wheel and suspension components. His exit handed Evans a healthy lead of 22.6sec at the day’s halfway point. The dynamic changed when Ott Tänak cranked up the heat after service in Croatian capital Zagreb, slashing Evans’ buffer by almost half with two stages remaining.
However, the Estonian was impeded by a technical fault which cost valuable time late in the day and ended 25.4sec back from the lead. A victory for Evans, should he succeed in keeping Tänak at bay, would be his first since the 2021 Secto Rally Finland over 18 months ago. Esapekka Lappi brought his Hyundai home a distant third overall despite lacking confidence in some of the gravel-polluted sections.
A half spin in SS13 did not help matters although the Finn pressed harder in the afternoon and trailed Tänak by half a minute at close of play. Sébastien Ogier started on the back foot having been handed a one-minute time penalty for a safety breach on Friday evening. He was then lumbered with a further 10-second sanction after a technical issue on the road section caused him to check in late to the first stage.
But the Yaris man, winner here in 2021, climbed from seventh to fourth overall after romping to three fastest stage times. Behind him were team-mates Kalle Rovanperä and Takamoto Katsuta, both of whom leapfrogged Pierre-Louis Loubet as he struggled to find traction on hard compound tyres. Yohan Rossel remained in the lead of the WRC2 category and held eighth overall ahead of Nikolay Gryazin and Emil Lindholm, who completed the leaderboard.
Sunday:
Elfyn Evans stormed to victory at Croatia Rally on Sunday afternoon, soaring to the top of the FIA World Rally Championship standings in the process. An error from Thierry Neuville on Saturday morning propelled the Welshman to first overall, and he distanced himself from M-Sport Ford Puma driver Ott Tänak across the rest of the rally to win by 27.0sec in a Toyota GR Yaris.
The triumph, his first since Secto Rally Finland in 2021 and the first of his career on asphalt, elevated Evans from fifth to equal-first in the drivers’ championship standings. He is tied on points with Sébastien Ogier after round four of 13, with Kalle Rovanperä just a single point behind and Tänak three more in arrears.
His Toyota Gazoo Racing team preserved its unbeaten Croatia Rally record whilst also increasing its manufacturers’ championship lead over Hyundai Motorsport to 29 points.
The season’s first pure asphalt fixture delivered tremendous action, and Tänak looked set to become a real threat to Evans as he set a furious pace early on Saturday afternoon.
However, a transmission issue later on the penultimate day obstructed the Estonian’s charge and he cruised to the finish 31.6sec clear of Esapekka Lappi. Lappi lacked confidence on some of the dirtier sections of road, but consistency rewarded him with his first Hyundai i20 N podium – a welcome boost after crashing out from the lead in the previous round.
Behind him were a trio of Toyotas headed by defending champion Rovanperä, 19.7sec in arrears. The Finn had languished outside of the top ten after changing a wheel in SS2 on Friday, but hauled himself back up the leaderboard with an impressive recovery drive. He surpassed Sébastien Ogier on the final morning to claim fourth overall, edging his team-mate by just 9.7sec.
Ogier, who solely led the championship before this rally, was left to rue what could have been. Although he trailed victor Evans by 1min28.0sec at the finish, he also stopped to change a wheel whilst leading on Friday and received further blows in the form of time penalties. In total, the time loss amounted to roughly two-and-a-half minutes.
Takamoto Katsuta made it four Toyotas in the top six ahead of Pierre-Louis Loubet, who nursed his Puma to the finish with bent steering. WRC2 competitors Yohan Rossel, Nikolay Gryazin and Oliver Solberg completed the leaderboard.
Here’s WRC Rally Croatia results: https://www.wrc.com/en/wrcplus/live-timing/
[Note: The story is as per press release]