How Evans ended his WRC drought in sombre Croatia breakthrough

“The most important thing is that everybody is here to drive for Craig Breen,” uttered world champion Kalle Rovanpera. That was the objective as the World Rally Championship headed to Croatia mourning the loss of the much-loved Hyundai driver following a tragic pre-event testing crash.

The title race was very much secondary to honouring and celebrating the 33-year-old Irishman taken too soon. Putting on a show that Breen would have wanted was paramount. It was perhaps fitting that Toyota’s Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin, the co-driver that guided Breen to his first WRC podium in 2016, came through in emotional scenes to end an 18-month WRC victory drought.

The news of Breen’s shock passing in preparation for Croatia rocked the rally community but it was united in its grief and determination to deliver an ultimate tribute to the nine-time WRC podium finisher and people’s champion.

Hyundai had contemplated whether it should compete at the event at all but, after discussing the situation with Breen’s family and his surviving co-driver James Fulton, it was decided that Craig would have wanted the show to go on, and so the team dug deep into its resolve. After such harrowing events only a few days earlier, many wanted to see Hyundai emerge victorious with either Thierry Neuville or Esapekka Lappi in its reduced two-car line up.

The motorsport family has become a cliche over the years, but it was never more visible than in the Croatia service park as everyone united. Following the news that Hyundai would be one car short, rivals Toyota reminded everyone true sportsmanship still exists, announcing that it would only register Rovanpera and its eight-time title winner Sebastien Ogier of its three factory cars to score manufacturer points in a move of solidarity. A magnanimous gesture.

The raw emotion was all too clear when the crews climbed aboard the cars for Thursday shakedown two days after Breen was laid to rest. All eyes were drawn to the resplendent Irish tricolour-liveried Hyundais that had only been freshly wrapped just hours before in a perfect tribute. Following Hyundai’s lead, all crews participating carried some form of tribute on their cars to honour Breen.

WRC crews paid tribute to fallen colleague Breen in a pre-event photo with the car he was scheduled to drive

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

The mental challenge the drivers grappled with in order to compete was all too clear in Thursday’s shakedown, as Lappi logged his first run with tears in his eyes.

“The car looks amazing – the team did an amazing job to make it look like this at such short notice,” said Lappi. “I said to Janne [Ferm, co-driver] that I was shaking at the finish line, and not because I pushed hard. Every one of us takes it in different ways and for me it's tough.”

But it was M-Sport’s Ott Tanak who best summed up the general feeling of the rally community after one of its darkest weeks.

“It's difficult, it's demanding and it's so hard for all of us,” he said. “It’s empty inside and it's eating us alive. It's tough, but I promised to give a smile to Jackie [Breen's mother]. We keep going.”

"I had the chance to go to Ireland this week and meet Breen's family to see his mother. I will never forget it as she took my face in her two hands and said: 'I want to see you smile'" Thierry Neuville

Applying a Breen-style smile through the pain was a request from the family. Adhering to one of the late Irishman’s mantras – “Don’t forget to enjoy, you have to have fun, life is too short” – emblazoned on the doors of the Hyundais, was a message Neuville felt was important to show.

“I know there is a message that we need to transmit now, not only for ourselves but for other people,” he said shortly before the entire service park came together for an emotional group photo to pay tribute to Breen alongside the car he would have driven.

“It is something that I have realised that we have often forgotten over the past years. First of all, we need to have fun, and I think that was one of the strongest messages he was transmitting.

“I had the chance to go to Ireland this week and meet Breen's family to see his mother. I will never forget it as she took my face in her two hands and said: ‘I want to see you smile, Craig was smiling most of the time and you guys need to transmit that message to the people out there’.”

Neuville lived up to the message he preached as it was the Belgian who was smiling come the end of Friday’s eight asphalt stages after emerging with a 5.7-second lead over Evans. It was a small beacon of hope for a team that had worked tirelessly through its darkest hours to prepare for the event.

Neuville was keen to put on a show in his Hyundai, running a special tribute livery to Breen

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

“It is a small sign of light and a welcome one because the whole team has had to put in a big effort to be here,” Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul told Autosport. “There were a lot of logistical challenges and emotional challenges, so it is good, but it is only day one.”

It wasn’t an easy lead to build as Neuville, who clouted a hay bale marking a chicane in stage two, was fighting the car and had to drive on the limit to navigate around set-up deficiencies. It was clear Toyota and M-Sport’s Ott Tanak would put up strong fight.

“It was a big relief when we crossed the finish line and we found out we were still in the lead so that is very positive,” said Neuville as Evans slashed a 16.1s lead across the afternoon. “This morning was really tough. We changed the dampers and so on, and I got a bit more comfortable. But I feel like I can’t go for the last couple of tenths that makes the difference at the end, and Elfyn was always able to go slightly faster than me. But we still have the lead and that is the thing to remember.”

Despite completing only one shakedown run due a turbo issue, Evans had emerged as the lead Toyota after both Ogier and Rovanpera fell foul of a pothole on stage two on Friday morning. The pair were wary that the rougher asphalt roads and cuts would require more puncture management than in previous years. However, in avoiding taking a cut to preserve their tyres they hit a compression that broke a wheel on their GR Yaris Rally1s.

“I avoided the cuts as much as I could but it was just the compression. What can I do?” said Ogier.

A quick change in the stage realistically ended their hopes of victory on the spot. Starting first on the road, Ogier faced the best road conditions that became progressively worse by gravel being dragged onto the surface and was leading the rally until losing a minute and a half in the change. Rovanpera, who was also struggling with his car’s handling, shipped more than two minutes which dropped him outside the top 10.

It would also transpire that in Ogier’s swift change, he and co-driver Vincent Landais failed to fasten their safety belts sufficiently before setting off, resulting in a one-minute penalty. That dropped the pair to seventh overall.

Changeable weather threw crews a curveball as light rain arrived. It prompted Tanak, his M-Sport team-mate Pierre-Louis Loubet and Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta to fit two wet tyres for the afternoon stages. But it proved to be the wrong call as the conditions were not wet enough.

A puncture and subsequent penalty hampered Ogier's event

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Lappi bravely stuck to the team’s weather and dry tyre call and inherited third from Tanak, who was also finding it difficult to find the sweet spot in his Ford Puma. Tanak did wrestle the position back from Lappi as 3.4s separated the pair heading into Saturday.

The victory Neuville and so many wanted to see wasn’t to be. The Belgian misjudged a braking point by 50 centimetres at a long right-hander in stage 11, which resulted in his i20 N clipping a piece of concrete on the exit, damaging his left-rear suspension. The dream was over.

“When you are fighting for victory a small mistake can have huge consequences,” said a clearly disappointed Neuville. “We need to live with that. I think we were all dreaming about the victory this weekend and we know for what reason. We were close, but to be honest it hasn’t been easy in the car all weekend and we were fighting hard to keep believing and dreaming. Unfortunately it ended too early.”

"Handbrake is not working and things like this, so it is tricky when it is shitty like this" Ott Tanak

This elevated Evans into a 19.1s lead from Tanak, with Lappi in the sole remaining Hyundai slotting into third.

Evans had a wild moment of his own and was lucky his slide only resulted in his GR Yaris skimming a barrier in stage 12: “I don’t want it to be much closer now, but it was OK. You could have touched it and got away with it, but I really wouldn’t want to try.”

The afternoon developed into a head-to-head between Evans and Tanak, with the former struggling for confidence behind the wheel. Tanak was growing in belief as he cut the deficit to 12.5s heading into the day’s penultimate stage. However, the Estonian’s charge was halted by a transmission problem and hydraulic issue that restricted the use of his handbrake in stage 15.

“Quite a f****** disaster – handbrake is not working and things like this so it is tricky when it is shitty like this,” said a frustrated Tanak at stage end before elaborating further in the service park. “We have quite a few things [going on] so it is definitely good to be here [in service park].”

Facing a 25.4s deficit heading into the final day, Tanak felt it was the Toyota’s driver’s victory to lose. Evans on the other hand wasn’t taking anything for granted after a difficult day of his own.

Tanak's duel with Evans was thwarted by problems with his handbrake

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

“I wasn’t really happy with my afternoon to be honest and probably the worst I have felt through the weekend to this point, especially that first long stage after service, I couldn't get any confidence,” said Evans. “It is only a spin or a puncture or whatever. [The lead] is nothing, so we still have to get on with the job and still drive at the same pace.”

Further down the leaderboard, another head-to-head battle raged between the recovering Ogier and Rovanpera, who had now found the sweet spot in his GR Yaris and benefitted from being first on the road. Rovanpera chalked up four stages wins to Ogier’s three to end the day 2.0s adrift of his veteran part time team-mate in the battle for fourth overall.

Ogier’s day was hampered by a further drama that cost him a 10s penalty for checking into stage nine late. This was caused by a mistake made by the team in service that made his car “undriveable" and required Ogier to summon his mechanic skills to attempt a fix on a road section.

“It is satisfying that the speed is there and we are clearly the fastest this weekend again, but at the end of the day the most important thing is to win rallies and not being just the fastest,” said a frustrated Ogier.

Desperate not to let this victory chance slip, Evans adopted a measured approach for Sunday’s final four stages. With Tanak hinting he was happy to nurse his Puma to the finish, Evans extended his lead before ultimately sealing an emotional win by a comfortable 27.0s from Tanak. Lappi represented Hyundai on the podium in third, 58.6s adrift, to offer the team some consolation for the incredible effort undertaken to get through this rally.

But for Evans and Martin the emotions bottled up from a mentally challenging week boiled over as they crossed the finish line for their first win since Finland in October 2021.

“It feels so insignificant now, that's the bottom line,” said a clearly emotional Evans before taking an Irish flag of his absent friend to stand on the podium, where a minute silence was held. “We've been working towards this for a long time but it's surprising how little it means just at the moment. We're back to missing our friend after the real focus on the weekend and straight away after crossing the finish line that's all we can think about.”

Evans held off Tanak to secure his first win of the hybrid era, but admitted his thoughts after crossing the line were immediately with Breen

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

The victory moved Evans to the top of the championship, tied on points with Ogier, with Rovanpera a point further back after coming through the battle of the world champions to claim fourth.

“A difficult weekend – and I need to prepare better on the set-up side,” he said. “We cannot start rallies like this.”

Behind Ogier came Katsuta and Loubet, the latter also having battled issues with his Puma. Yohan Rossel’s Citroen won WRC2 in eighth overall.

Although heartbroken after failing to take the win for Hyundai, Neuville, who rejoined the action on Sunday, channeled his emotions into a truly mesmerising maximum-attack run to win the Power Stage, which he dedicated to Breen.

“I am so disappointed for the team and for us after everything that happened,” he said. “We really wanted that victory – we wanted to make Craig proud – but we missed the opportunity. We gave it everything in here. I didn’t care about the car, I just went for it. This one was for Craig.”

Neuville gave his all to claim the Power Stage victory for Breen after crashing out of the rally on Saturday

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport