Stage one: Neuville and Evans at the same time / WRC

The first asphalt meeting of the year on the hard slopes of Croatia has entered a high voltage phase. After eight of the 20 asphalt tests, championship leader and opening winner Thierry Neuville in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 and last year’s winner Elfin Evans in the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 crossed the finish line of the first stage at the same time.

Eastern Belgian WRC leader Neuville was leading going into the seventh day of the eight-day decider. A puncture on Neuville’s Hyundai in the final lap of the seventh decision pushed Evans briefly into a 1.6 second lead over Neuville. But Neuville made it back in third fastest time behind the second record set by current third-placed Croatian Sébastien Ogier (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1), albeit at the same time as Evans. Eight-time champion Ogier is just 6.6 seconds behind the leading pair in his second start of the season in his time program.

Neuville was more than satisfied with the high situation: “I did my best. It was not a good day for us, I lacked confidence. We must be able to do better.”

In such a situation, Evans said: “It was difficult. I didn’t have a very good feeling at the end, there were a lot of traps. It’s hard with all this dirt on the streets.”

Ogier can see himself in the position of the laughing third person. With two of his best times towards the end, he cut his gap from 26.9 seconds after the fifth decision on the day to 6.6 seconds for a double lead. Toyota interim driver Ogier explained: “I am satisfied with this time. It was a difficult day for us and our starting position was not what we expected. It’s good to be near the top at the end of the day.”

Hyundai comebacker Ott Tänak is also in Croatia, second in 2023 (in a Ford Puma) behind Evans, looking for his old form. The Estonian 2019 world champion was in fourth place, 48.1 seconds behind. Tänak sees hope: “It was better in the last three tests. It’s not great, but it’s better than this morning.”

WRC third-place finisher Adrien Fourmaux continued his excellent early season performance in Croatia to fifth (+52.0) in the Ford Puma Rally1 from M-Sport. Fourmaux said: “It’s good to end the day on such a positive note. I changed something before the last test and it seems to have worked. It was a good day for us.”

Behind him were Takamoto Katsuta (+ 1:30.9) in third Toyota, Andreas Mikkelsen (+ 1:56.2) in third Hyundai and Grégoire Munster (+ 2:31.8) in second Puma.

Nikolai Gryazin, who started with a Bulgarian license, took the lead in WRC2 in P9 in the Citroën C3 Rally2, 16.5 seconds ahead of his teammate Yohan Rossel, the 2023 WRC2 winner.

As in the previous year, Armin Kremer, three-time German champion, former European champion (2001) and winner of the 2003 Asia-Pacific Championship, leads the Skoda Fabia RS in the FIA ​​Masters Cup (for more than 50 participants) , 34.5 seconds ahead of Brand colleague Mauro Miele, winner of the 2022 Cup.

Rally Croatia on Red Bull TV:

The 2024 FIA World Rally Championship is coming to Croatia, offering a fast-paced display of motorsport skills, with the twists and turns of the road challenging enthusiastic participants – especially in wet conditions. Red Bull TV will be live at 10:00 pm CET on Friday, April 19, Saturday, April 20, and Sunday, April 21, for the fourth round of the season, the first asphalt meeting of 2024.

Rally Croatia on Servus TV:

Saturday, April 20, 2024:
10:00 am CET: SS 11 «Vinksi Vrh – Duga Resa 1″ (8.78 km)*
5:00 pm CET: SS 15 «Vinksi Vrh – Duga Resa 2» (8.78 km)*

sunday April 21, 2024:
08:30 CET: SS 18 “Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec 1” (14.24 km)*
13:00 Uhr MEZ: WP 20 “Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec 2” (Power stage/14.24 km)

* Good knowledge of English is required