2024 FIA World Rally Championship / Stage 04 / Croatia Rally / April 17-21, 2024 // Worldwide The 2024 FIA World Rally Championship continued with the Croatia Rally from April 17-21, 2024. In an unexpected twist on Sunday morning, Sébastien Ogier took the lead after Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans encountered difficulties in SS18.
Neuville and Evans had been locked in a fierce battle since the start of the rally on Friday. Heading into the second stage of Sunday in Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec, Neuville held a narrow 2.6-second advantage over Evans. However, both drivers faced setbacks in the test, allowing Ogier to take the lead with just two stages remaining.
Evans spun his Toyota GR Yaris in a right-hand corner, resulting in a loss of approximately 20 seconds as he tried to regain control. Meanwhile, Neuville went off the road in a left-hand corner and collided with a tree, causing significant damage to the rear of his Hyundai i20 N. Despite the setback, Neuville managed to continue but dropped to third place after losing 23.3 seconds.
Ogier, who was trailing the leaders by 11.6 seconds at the start of the final day, now enjoys a comfortable 9.1-second lead over his teammate Evans. Reflecting on his incident, Neuville expressed regret, stating: “There were several corners and the pace note came too late. It’s disappointing because everything was going so well.”
Additionally, Adrien Fourmaux also had a setback in the same stage, dropping out of the classification due to a broken steering arm.
