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Motorsport Week
Home Rallying WRC

Neuville leads after Rovanpera crashes out of Croatia Rally

by Ryan Wood
4 years ago
A A
Neuville leads after Rovanpera crashes out of Croatia Rally

Thierry Neuville(BEL) and Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL) of team Hyundai

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This morning’s four Croatia Rally special stages belonged to Thierry Neuville. The Belgian won three to lead the third round of the FIA World Rally Championship by 7.4s at mid-leg service in his Hyundai i20.

World champion Sébastien Ogier fought back this afternoon when the tests were repeated. He won three in a row, the middle of which marked his 600th WRC stage victory, to overhaul Toyota Yaris team-mate Elfyn Evans for second.

Neuville ended 7.7s clear of the Frenchman, with Evans three-tenths back in third.

Such was the fast and furious pace at Croatia’s WRC debut that both Neuville and Ogier survived close calls. Neuville’s i20 was pitched onto two wheels after hitting a bank in the final test, while Ogier escaped after clouting the banking in the opener.

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Kalle Rovanperä suffered more than both. The youngest driver ever to lead the WRC at 20 drifted wide on a right bend 5.4km into the opening Rude – Plešivica test where Ogier was so fortunate. His Yaris plunged down a bank, coming to rest against a tree and the car was damaged too severely to restart tomorrow.

“It was the last downhill section which was really slippery. I lost the car already in the entry of the corner, I never made the proper racing line and we went straight off. A bit too much speed and understeer and that’s the result, my mistake,” Rovanperä admitted.

Kalle Rovanpera(FIN) and Jonne Halttunen(FIN) of team Toyota Gazoo Racing

Although it was dry and warm, the stages south-west of capital city Zagreb became increasingly slippery as drivers cutting corners dragged gravel onto the asphalt. Rovanperä’s demise left Neuville to open the roads with the best grip.

“It was a tough day for everybody,” said Neuville. “This morning when Kalle went off, our main goal was to try to benefit from a good road position and try to make some gap to the others which we managed to do. This afternoon I tried to extend, but struggled a bit in some places when there was a lot of gravel.”

Evans was sandwiched by Neuville and Ogier before sliding to third in the closing stage, having prevented a Neuville clean sweep this morning by winning SS3.

Ott Tänak was the only driver to choose Pirelli’s hard compound P Zero tyres solely this morning and the Estonian could not get the best out of them in his i20. Set-up changes improved his feeling this afternoon and he won one stage, without ever being comfortable.

He ended fourth, 31.9s behind Neuville and 22.9s clear of a deflated Craig Breen, who never found his rhythm on his first all-asphalt WRC rally since 2018.

Adrien Fourmaux was buzzing after an impressive drive to sixth in a Ford Fiesta in his top-flight debut.

Saturday’s second leg is the longest of the weekend at 121.92km. It is based in the same area as today, traversing stunning springtime scenery in the Žumberak nature park. Four morning stages are repeated in the afternoon after service in Zagreb.

#DriverCo-DriverCarTimeGap
1T. NEUVILLEM. WYDAEGHEi20 Coupé WRC55:36.8
2S. OGIERJ. INGRASSIAYaris WRC55:44.5+7.7
3E. EVANSS. MARTINYaris WRC55:44.8+8.0
4O. TÄNAKM. JÄRVEOJAi20 Coupé WRC56:08.7+31.9
5C. BREENP. NAGLEi20 Coupé WRC56:31.6+54.8
6A. FOURMAUXR. JAMOULFiesta WRC56:51.5+1:14.7
7G. GREENSMITHC. PATTERSONFiesta WRC56:58.5+1:21.7
8P. LOUBETV. LANDAISi20 Coupé WRC57:08.3+1:31.5
9T. KATSUTAD. BARRITTYaris WRC58:00.0+2:23.2
10M. OSTBERGT. ERIKSENC358:54.4+3:17.6
Tags: CroatiaRallyWRC
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Drivers’ Standings

#DriverPoints
1Ott Tanak162
2Elfyn Evans161
3Sebastien Ogier141
4Kalle Rovanpera138
5Thierry Neuville114
6Adrien Fourmaux71
7Takamoto Katsuta63
8Oliver Solberg52
9Sami Pajari38
10Gregoire Munster19

Click here for full Drivers’ Standings

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