Rally Croatia – Syndication Server

Neuville leads WRC Croatia Rally 3-way fight after Saturday twists

Thierry Neuville (above) holds the slightest of WRC Croatia Rally leads after Saturday’s enthralling, flat-out penultimate leg ended with Hyundai’s asphalt ace besting Toyota’s Elfyn Evans by just 4.9s, with Sebastien Ogier only 6.7s further back. …

After a day of multiple twists and turns – literally and metaphorically – Belgian Neuville was ecstatic to head to the overnight halt in his i20 N Rally1 holding that sub-five-second lead and provisionally scoring 18 points to boost his FIA World Rally Championship title lead over GR Yaris Rally1 driver Evans. Eight-time champ Ogier made it two Toyotas inside the top three, and is still very much in contention for his 59^th career WRC win.

The morning loop of four stages swung in Neuville’s favor thanks to his efforts in preserving his four soft-compound Pirelli P Zero tires. Evans, who’d ended Friday tied with the Belgian on overall time, conceded 4.7s to Neuville across the morning’s tests as he struggled to juggle only three softs, one hard and two wet-weather tires in the absence of forecasted rain.

Toyota’s Elfyn Evans struggled with his tire choices in Saturday’s morning loop, but is still within 4.9s of rally leader Thierry Neuville. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

All three Toyota Gazoo Racing crews opted to carry four soft and two wet-weather tires for the repeated afternoon loop, while Neuville chose a more diverse package comprising two hards, two softs and two wets.

Although Toyota’s strategy initially paid off when Evans reclaimed the lead after beating Neuville by 6.7s in the light drizzle of the afternoon’s opening test, 9.77-mile Smerovisce-Grdanjcl 2, the Hyundai man responded by winning the final three all-asphalt stages in predominantly dry conditions to go back in front.

Under the new-for-2024 WRC points system, Neuville’s Saturday finish will earn him those 18 points, providing he completes Super Sunday’s final four stages. Evans will receive 15, while Ogier, who’s running only a limited WRC schedule this season, will bank 13.

“It’s not a big lead, but we had a great day,” said Neuville. “Despite a not perfect tire choice this afternoon we were capable of defending our lead. It wasn’t easy when the weather wasn’t very easy to judge. Now we need to continue attacking and have a good tire choice [on Sunday].”

Ott Tanak ended Saturday still in fourth overall, more than a minute further back in the second factory Hyundai. The Estonian was lucky to escape with nothing more than slightly a bent rear wheel when he ran wide on a left-hander and clipped a curb early in the leg.

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak holds fourth, a minute out of the lead battle. Running wide and damaging a wheel didn’t help his cause. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Tanak had 19.9s in hand over Adrien Fourmaux’s fifth-placed M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1. The Frenchman was again impressive in his long-shot quest for a third consecutive WRC podium, taking the fastest time on the Smerovisce-Grdanjci stage to stretch his advantage over Toyota’s third entry, Takamoto Katsuta.

Seventh-placed Andreas Mikkelsen suffered another time-consuming overshoot, but felt increasingly comfortable on asphalt aboard the third of the factory Hyundais, while Gregoire Munster gained more valuable experience in his Puma to end the day eighth overall.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Nikolay Gryazin maintains a comfortable 39.5s lead over DG Sport Competition teammate Yohan Rossel. Similar to Friday’s opening leg, the Citroen C3 duo were a notch above the competition, now led by Finn Sami Pajari, albeit 26.3s behind Rossel in the final class podium spot.

Pajari’s climb up the order comes at the expense of Spain’s Pepe Lopez, the Skoda Fabia RS driver dropping time to lose his podium place and sit fifth in the WRC2 standings behind Gus Greensmith’s similar machine.

Nikolay Gryazin maintained his WRC2 lead, heading a Citroen C3 1-2 over teammate Yohan Rossel. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Four more all-asphalt stages comprise Sunday’s finale, with up to 12 championship points still up for grabs in the overall battle. Two tests are each tackled twice for a total of 34.04 competitive miles before the finish in Croatian capital Zagreb.

WRC Croatia Rally, positions after Leg Two, SS16
1 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 2h09m46.0s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +4.9s
3 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +11.6s
4 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m15.5s
5 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m35.4s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m14.2s
7 Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +4m00.8s
8 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +4m56.3s
9 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroen C3 – WRC2 leader) +7m41.4s
10 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Citroen C3 – WRC2) +8m20.9s

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Neuville, Evans in dead heat after WRC Croatia Rally opening leg

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Toyota ace Elfyn Evans ended the Croatia Rally’s opening leg level on times after a frantic Friday on the all-asphalt event. There was nothing to separate the duo after eight rough and slippery asphalt stages totaling …

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Toyota ace Elfyn Evans ended the Croatia Rally’s opening leg level on times after a frantic Friday on the all-asphalt event.

There was nothing to separate the duo after eight rough and slippery asphalt stages totaling 74.4 competitive miles in the hills west of Croatia’s capital, Zagreb. However, Neuville (above), who entered round 4 of the FIA World Rally Championship season with the title lead and a six-point margin over Evans, was left to rue missed opportunities.

Neuville won four of the day’s first five special stages, building a useful 10.1s advantage. However, the Belgian’s efforts were thwarted when his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 struck a rock in the sixth stage and sustained front-right tire damage that cost him around 10s.

Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver Evans seized the lead by winning the following 5.9-mile blast from Jaskovo to Mali Modrus Potok. Still, a late resurgence from Neuville in the day’s final stage saw both drivers finish the day on exactly the same total time — 1h5m15.3s — with Evan’s Toyota teammate Sebastien Ogier completing the top three positions just 6.6s behind.

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier completed the podium spots after day one, 6.6s behind the ultra-close lead fight. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

“We are really disappointed [about the damaged tire] because it’s something that couldn’t have been avoided,” Neuville admitted. “I did what I could, but it was not a great day for us.”

Muddy conditions, and even flurries of snow, led to changeable grip levels. Eight-time WRC champ Ogier, who is running only a limited WRC program in 2024 and started sixth on the road based on his points position, was one of the worst effected by dirt being dragged onto the road by cars in front cutting corners for the fastest line.

Despite suffering a slow puncture in the opening stage and being caught in a localized rain shower in the first stage after the midday regroup, the Frenchman’s strong performance in the final stage propelled him back into contention.

Anticipating wet weather on Saturday, Ogier noted: “Tomorrow is the start of another rally, I think — much slower and much slippier.”

Ott Tanak ended 41.1s adrift of the lead in fourth overall. After noting that his Hyundai felt “nervous” in the morning, the Estonian enjoyed a more consistent afternoon and edged out Adrien Fourmaux’s M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 by 11.6s at day’s end.

M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux is aiming for a third-straight WRC podium, but lies fifth after Friday’s stages.

Completing the overall victory-contending hybrid Rally1 runners, Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta claimed sixth place ahead of Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen, who lost time in the morning after overshooting a junction, with M-Sport Ford’s Gregoire Munster heading back to Zagreb a steady eighth.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, it was an all-Citroen duel for class honors between Nikolay Gryazin and Yohan Rossel. The pair of C3 pilots were in a class of their own over the opening day, opening a commanding lead of more than two minutes over the remainder of the WRC2 field.

Gryazin, making just his second WRC start in a Citroen C3, set the tone early by going 10.8s faster than DG Sport Competition teammate Rossel on the opening stage, leaving his rivals playing catchup over the next seven stages.

He would complete Friday with seven stage wins, while Rossel, also on his second start of the season, claimed one stage win and is well-placed to match his Monte Carlo Rally podium finish, 31.1s behind Gryazin.

Monte Carlo Rally WRC2 runner-up Pepe Lopez is making his Croatian debut this weekend, and despite his limited knowledge of the broken asphalt stages, the Spaniard positioned his Skoda Fabia RS comfortably in the third spot on the class podium.

Citroen driver Nikolay Gryazin meant business, setting seven fastest WRC2 stage times for a 31.1s class lead by day’s end. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Saturday’s second leg follows a similar format to Friday. Four stages are driven in the morning, then repeated in the afternoon, covering 67.58 competitive miles in total.

WRC Croatia Rally, positions after Leg One, SS8
1 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1h05m15.3s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +0.0s
3 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +6.6s
4 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +41.1s
5 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Puma Rally1) +52.7s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m37.8s
7 Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m37.8s
8 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m07.3s
9 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroen C3 – WRC2 leader) +3m48.3s
10 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Citroen C3 – WRC2) +4m19.4s

Evans back to winning ways with WRC Rally Croatia dominance

Elfyn Evans stormed to victory at Rally Croatia on Sunday afternoon, moving the Toyota Gazoo Racing driver to the top of the FIA World Rally Championship standings in the process. An error from Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville on Saturday morning had …

Elfyn Evans stormed to victory at Rally Croatia on Sunday afternoon, moving the Toyota Gazoo Racing driver to the top of the FIA World Rally Championship standings in the process.

An error from Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville on Saturday morning had propelled the Welshman to first overall. After that, he distanced himself from M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 driver Ott Tanak to win by 27.0s in his GR Yaris Rally1.

The triumph, his first since Rally Finland in the fall of 2021 and the first of his career on an all-asphalt WRC round, elevated Evans from fifth to first in the drivers’ championship standings. After round four of 13, he leads Toyota teammate Sebastien Ogier by three points, with Tanak just one point further back in third.

After taking the win, Evans reflected on the loss of his friend and rival, Ireland’s Craig Breen, who was killed testing his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 in a pre-Rally Croatia test.

“Obviously we’ve been working towards this for a long time, but it all feels so insignificant at the moment — that’s the bottom line,” said Evans. “After the focus of the weekend, we’re all back to missing our friend now. Straightaway after coming across the finish line, that’s all we can think about. We promised Craig’s family we would enjoy the weekend, and we’ve done that. We’re all thinking of them right now.”

Winners Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin pay tribute to Ireland’s Craig Breen. McKlein/Motorsport Images

Evans’ Toyota Gazoo Racing team preserved its unbeaten Rally Croatia record, making it three wins in three events, while also increasing its WRC manufacturers’ championship lead over Hyundai Motorsport to 29 points.

The 2023 WRC season’s first all-asphalt rally delivered tremendous action, and Tanak looked set to become a real threat to Evans as he set a furious pace early on Saturday afternoon. However, a transmission issue toward the end of the penultimate leg obstructed the Estonian’s charge and he cruised to Sunday’s finish 31.6s clear of Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi.

Lappi lacked confidence on some of the dirtier sections of road, but consistency rewarded him with his first podium for Hyundai — a welcome boost after crashing out from the lead in the previous round in Mexico.

Esapekka Lappi bounced back from his Mexico crash to finish third for Hyundai. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Behind Lappi were a trio of Toyotas headed by defending WRC champ Kalle Rovanpera, 19.7s in arrears. The Finn had fallen outside of the overall top 10 after changing a wheel in Friday’s second stage, but hauled himself back up the leaderboard with an impressive recovery drive. He passed Ogier during Sunday’s final morning to claim fourth overall, edging his teammate by just 9.7s.

Ogier, who led the points before this rally, despite choosing to run only a limited WRC campaign this season, was left to rue what could have been. Although he trailed winner Evans by 1min28.0s at the finish, he’d also stopped to change a wheel while leading on Friday and received further blows in the form of time penalties. In total, the eight-time champ’s time loss amounted to roughly two-and-a-half minutes, ending his chances of making it three wins from his three 2023 starts so far.

Takamoto Katsuta made it four Toyotas in the top six, ahead of seventh-placed Pierre-Louis Loubet, who nursed his Puma to the finish with bent steering.

Completing the runners in the WRC’s headlining hybrid Rally1 class, Thierry Neuville, who’d led after Friday, then crashed out on Saturday, restarted with the aim of grabbing maximum bonus points on the rally-closing Wolf Power Stage — a mission the Belgian duly accomplished after gambling on carrying no spare tires in his Hyundai i20 N to save weight.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Yohan Rossel secured his second victory in as many 2023 starts, having led the class from Friday’s opening stage.

The Frenchman took control from the get-go and never faltered in his Citroen C3. He did, however, come under some pressure from Skoda Fabia RS driver Nikolay Gryazin, whose Saturday afternoon charge ate into his lead. The pair entered Sunday’s four-stage finale just 11.5s apart, but Rossel, who also won WRC2 at the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, delivered a faultless drive to keep his rival 16.1s behind at the finish.

Oliver Solberg finished third on the road in his Skoda, but was not registered for WRC2 points in Croatia (WRC2 drivers nominate seven rounds to secure championship points). That left Emil Lindholm to complete the podium in his Fabia after fighting back from a broken transmission linkage on Friday. The Finn was a hefty 1m11.4sec adrift of the front-running pair, although he did have 51.0s in hand over fourth-placed Adrien Fourmaux’s M-Sport Ford Fiesta.

Yohan Rossel made it two WRC2 wins from two 2023 starts in his Citroen C3. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Next event for the WRC is Rally Portugal, May 11-14. Running over fast and technical gravel roads inland from Porto, it’s one of the oldest and most popular rounds in the championship. Reigning WRC champ Kalle Rovanpera was last year’s winner, and will be looking to take his title defense up a gear with a repeat this time around.

WRC Rally Croatia, final positions after Day Three, SS20
1 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h50m54.3s
2 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1) +27.0s
3 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +58.6s
4 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m18.3s
5 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m28.0s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m22.5s
7 Pierre-Louis Loubet/Nicola Gilsoul (M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1) +4m22.6s
8 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Citroen C3 – WRC2 winner) +7m51.3s
9 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +8m07.4s
10 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Skoda Fabia RS) +9m16.7s

WRC Drivers’ Championship after 4 rounds
1 Evans 69 points
2 Ogier 66
3 Tanak 65
4 Rovanpera 64
5 Neuville 53

WRC Manufacturers’ Championship after 4 rounds
1 Toyota Gazoo Racing 154 points
2 Hyundai Motorsport 126
3 M-Sport Ford 108

Check out WRC.com, the official home of the FIA World Rally Championship. And for the ultimate WRC experience, sign up for a WRC+ All Live subscription to watch all stages of every rally live and on demand, whenever and wherever.

Evans closes in on WRC Rally Croatia win after Neuville crashes

Elfyn Evans is closing in on his first FIA World Rally Championship victory since the fall of 2021 after seizing the Rally Croatia lead during Saturday’s penultimate leg. The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver ( above) assumed control of the challenging …

Elfyn Evans is closing in on his first FIA World Rally Championship victory since the fall of 2021 after seizing the Rally Croatia lead during Saturday’s penultimate leg.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver (above) assumed control of the challenging asphalt event early in the day when Thierry Neuville, who had led by 5.7s on Friday evening, crashed into retirement on the second stage.

Neuville’s Hyundai i20 N Rally1 stepped out of line and collided with a concrete block, which caused severe damage to the car’s rear suspension. With the Belgian going no further, that handed Evans’ GR Yaris Rally1 a healthy lead of 22.6s at Saturday’s halfway point.

But the dynamic changed when M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tanak cranked up the heat after the mid-leg service in Croatia’s capital, Zagreb, and slashed Welshman Evans’ buffer by almost half with just two of the day’s stages remaining. However, the Estonian was impeded by a technical fault which cost valuable time late in the day and he ended the leg 25.4s off the lead.

Second-placed Ott Tanak turned up the pressure, but was impeded by a late technical issue. M-Sport photo

A victory for Evans, should he succeed in keeping Tanak’s Puma Rally 1 at bay, would be his first since the 2021 Rally Finland, more than 18 months ago.

“If Ott had problems, I wouldn’t wish that on him,” the Welshman said after the day’s final stage. “It’s not nice to exploit a gap like that, but OK, there’s still a long way to go.”

Esapekka Lappi brought his Hyundai to the overnight halt in third overall, despite lacking confidence in some of the sections where corner cutting from the earlier cars had thrown gravel onto the asphalt. A half spin in the afternoon’s first stage didn’t help matters, although the Finn pressed harder in the afternoon and trailed Tanak by just a half minute at close of day.

Eight-time WRC champ Sebastien Ogier started Saturday on the back foot, having been handed a one-minute time penalty for a safety breach — an incorrectly fastened safety harness on Friday’s second stage. The Frenchman, who is running only selected events in 2023, was then lumbered with a further 10-second penalty after a technical issue on the road section caused him to make his own repairs and check in late to the first stage.

But the GR Yaris driver, winner here in 2021, climbed from seventh to fourth overall after taking three fastest stage times. Behind him were Toyota teammates Kalle Rovanpera and Takamoto Katsuta, both of whom leapfrogged M-Sport Ford’s Pierre-Louis Loubet as he struggled to find traction on hard compound tires.

Sebastien Ogier fought back to fourth overall after a spate of penalties. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, overnight leader Yohan Rossel saw his buffer reduced by almost two-thirds as a charging Nikolay Gryazin turned up the heat.

Rossel is aiming for back-to-back Croatia WRC2 victories in his Citroen C3, but struggled to come up with a response to the furious pace set by Gryazin throughout Saturday’s second leg.

Having started the day with a half-minute lead, Rossel was on the receiving end of several Gryazin blows as the Skoda Fabia RS driver stormed to fastest WRC2 times on four of the day’s eight stages.

“The conditions are not the same as yesterday,” said Rossel, who enters Sunday’s final leg a mere 11.5s ahead of Gryazin. “It’s quite similar to a gravel rally! The feeling is quite good when the road is completely dry, but when we have a lot of mud and gravel [from the cuts], it’s impossible to drive for me. But the rally is not finished — we will see tomorrow.”

Nikolay Gryazin went on a Saturday tear, finishing just 11.5s off of the WRC2 lead. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Sunday’s final leg north of Zagreb features the widest roads of the weekend. The opening 8.17-mile Trakoscan-Vrbno stage starts close to a 13th-century lakeside castle amid stunning scenery and is followed by the 8.76-mile Zagorska Sela-Kumrovec test. Both are driven twice, taking the day’s total to 33.85 competitive miles, with the second run through Zagorska Sela-Kumrovec as the rally-closing, points-paying Wolf Power Stage.

WRC Rally Croatia, leading positions after Day Two, SS16
1 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h20m05.7s
2 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1) +25.4s
3 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +55.4s
4 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m49.4s
5 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m51.4s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m25.9s
7 Pierre-Louis Loubet/Nicola Gilsoul (M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1) +2m32.1s
8 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Citroen C3 – WRC2 leader) +6m40.2s
9 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +6m51.7s
10 Emil Lindholm/Rita Hamalainen (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +8m02.4s

Consistent Neuville leads tricky Friday on WRC Rally Croatia

Thierry Neuville led throughout Friday’s treacherous opening leg of WRC Rally Croatia, despite only winning one stage of the all-asphalt event. It was the Hyundai driver’s consistency which ultimately came to the fore as the roads in the hills west …

Thierry Neuville led throughout Friday’s treacherous opening leg of WRC Rally Croatia, despite only winning one stage of the all-asphalt event.

It was the Hyundai driver’s consistency which ultimately came to the fore as the roads in the hills west of capital city Zagreb tested the mettle of the FIA World Rally Championship’s leading crews. Running a special paint scheme on his i20 N Rally1 (above) to commemorate his teammate, Ireland’s Craig Breen, who died in a pre-event testing crash last week, Neuville ended the grueling day just 5.7s clear of second-placed challenger Elfyn Evans’ Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.

Neuville was unhappy with his car’s morning setup, but took the lead after the day’s second stage when Sebastien Ogier, winner of the day’s opener, dropped over one and a half minutes carrying out a mid-stage wheel change on his GR Yaris.

The Belgian remained at the helm throughout the afternoon, although Evans cut 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 tires, which proved to be the optimum choice.

“We’ve done a decent job, but it hasn’t been easy at all,” Neuville admitted after the leg’s eighth and final stage. “It was a bit better at the end of the day and I am really happy that we had a bit more fun in the car this afternoon. Hopefully we can finish in first place at the end — that would be a great achievement for the team and for us.”

One driver for whom tire gambles did not pay off was Ott Tanak. The Estonian bolted wet-weather rubber onto his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 for the second run through the Stojdraga-Hartje test, but conditions remained mostly dry and he fell behind Esapekka Lappi’s Hyundai after dropping 17.0s.

Tanak responded in the penultimate stage by besting Lappi to reclaim third overall, reaching the overnight halt 3.4s clear of his Finnish rival and 24.3s adrift of second-placed Evans.

Despite his wet-weather tire gamble backfiring, Ott Tanak fought back to an overnight third. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Ogier, meanwhile, valiantly fought his way back up to fifth, 50.3s in arrears of Lappi. The eight-time champ came to Croatia as the WRC points leader, despite running only a limited program of rallies in 2023, but will be hard-pressed to stay there if Neuville continues at the sharp end and comes away with a significant haul of points.

Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta overtook M-Sport Ford driver Pierre-Louis Loubet in the final stage to grab sixth, while reigning WRC champ Kalle Rovanpera languished in eighth overall. The GR Yaris driver won last year’s Rally Croatia, but currently trails the front-runners by more than two minutes after he, too, stopped to change a wheel at the same location as teammate Ogier.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Yohan Rossel left his opponents floundering to build a convincing lead over Nikolay Gryazin.

Rossel, who’s running his first event since January’s season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, announced his return to the series by punching in a trio of fastest stage times aboard his Citroen C3.

The car received a number of technical upgrades ahead of Rally Croatia and those tweaks seem to be suiting the Frenchman. He cleared the day without errors and carried a sizeable 29.9s advantage over Gryazin’s Skoda Fabia RS at the end of the leg.

“It has not been easy, but it’s been a good day for us,” said Rossel, who held second in the WRC2 points before the rally. “We will see how it goes tomorrow.”

Yohan Rossel took Citroen’s upgraded C3 to a comfortable early WRC2 lead. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Saturday’s second leg follows a similar format to Friday’s opener, with four stages, driven morning and afternoon, adding up to 72.45 competitive miles

WRC Rally Croatia, leading positions after Day One, SS8
1 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1h16m02.4s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +5.7s
3 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1) +30.0s
4 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +33.4s
5 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m23.7s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m52.1s
7 Pierre-Louis Loubet/Nicola Gilsoul (M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1) +1m52.9s
8 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m40.3s
9 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Citroen C3 – WRC2 leader) +3m20.0s
10 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +3m49.9s