Strong emotions on the roads of the Croatia Rally, the fourth round of the World Rally Championship (WRC). After eight stages, nothing separates the top two overall, and the third is not far behind either.
After Thierry Neuville’s (Hyundai) dominance in the morning, the afternoon of Friday started with the Belgian setting the pace in SS 5 (Platak 2) by being 1.5s faster than Elfyn Evans (Toyota). Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) posted the third fastest time.
It could be thought that Neuville would continue to stand out at the top, but in the next stage he was hampered by a puncture. Evans took advantage, set the fastest time and took exactly ten seconds off his rival to be 0.1s overall. Ott Tänak (Hyundai) posted the third fastest time in Ravna Gora-Skrada.
In SS 7 (Jaškovo-Mali Modruš Potok 2) there was the first change of leader. Ogier was the fastest with a 0.3s lead over Evans, with the Briton moving to the top of the overall standings after Neuville set the fourth fastest time. Tänak was between them.
The day ended in the Krašić-Sošice stage with the eighth special, in which Ogier dominated by beating Adrien Fourmaux (M-Sport Ford) by 9.2s. Neuville was third at 9.4s, with Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) in fourth, Tänak in fifth, and Evans in sixth.
The times determined that, at the end of Friday, Neuville and Evans are tied at the top of the overall classification, with Ogier in third just 6.6s behind. Further back is the fourth-placed Tänak, 41.1s behind, with Fourmaux fifth at 52.7s.
Nikolay Gryazin (Citroën) was the winner of all the afternoon stages in WRC2 and WRC2 Challenger. In WRC2, the driver competing under Bulgarian nationality has a 31.3s lead over Yohan Rossel (Citroën), while in WRC2 Challenger he is 2m02.5s ahead of Pepe López (Skoda) – who is third in WRC2.
In the WRC3 standings, Romet Jürgenson continues to dominate. The Estonian, who drives a Ford, already has a 1m04.3s lead over Tom Rensonnet (Ford) although he only set the pace in one of the afternoon specials. Taylor Gill (Ford) moved up to third swapping places with Norbert Maior (Ford) in SS8.
Standings:
The leaderboards after Friday#WRC | #CroatiaRally 🇭🇷 pic.twitter.com/JRxMbu8Av6
— World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) April 19, 2024
