WRC Croatia: Evans leads Tanak after Neuville crash

Evans started the day 5.7s behind leader Neuville but the Welshman inherited the rally lead when his Hyundai rival went off the road in stage 11, which forced the Neuville to retire from the day’s action.

The sole remaining Hyundai of Esapekka Lappi headed to service in third, 44.8s adrift.

Only 4.7s covered fourth to seventh with M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet leading the best of the rest.

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier climbed ahead of team-mate Takamoto Katsuta to fifth overall, while world champion Kalle Rovanpera won three of the four stages to sit poised in seventh.

With the road order reversed, Rovanpera made the most of being first into the stages after difficult Friday that was headlined by losing more than two minutes to a flat tyre.

The Finn recorded his first stage win since Sweden in February by setting the pace in stage 9, as he began to close in on team-mate Ogier, who started the day with a one minute penalty for a safety belt infringement on stage 2.

Ogier’s morning also started on the back foot as the Frenchman had to fix a mysterious issue with his GR Yaris on the road section before stage.

“[There was] a small mistake was done in service this morning and we had to fix it [before SS9], the car would have been undriveable otherwise,” said Ogier, who was 1.4s slower than Rovanpera.

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Tanak, much more comfortable in the Ford Puma, produced arguably the most impressive drive considering his road position, to clock the second fastest time 1.2s adrift of Rovanpera.

Despite facing the worst of the conditions, Neuville was able to tame his Hyundai on the roads made slippery from gravel being dragged onto the surface to extend his rally lead by setting the fourth quickest time.

Evans admitted he was too careful in the stage and dropped 4.8s to Neuville, who pushed his lead out to 10.5s.

Neuville was able to eke out his advantage over Evans to another three tenths after stage 10, which was won by Rovanpera, who pipped Ogier by 0.1s.

Tanak continued his charge and also took time out of Evans to close within 16.1s of the Toyota driver in the battle for second.

However, the battle for victory took a decisive twist on the next test, stage 11, the only brand new addition to this year’s route.

Again facing the worse of the road conditions, Neuville misjudged a long right hander, 5.2km into the 10.13km test and crashed out of the rally.

The Hyundai driver clipped a rock with the left rear of his i20 N which sent the car into trees lining the road and caused significant damage to the car. Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe were unharmed in the incident.

This accident handed Evans the rally lead from Tanak with Lappi sitting in the final podium position. The stage was won by Rovanpera to complete a hat-trick of fastest stage times to move within 2.6s of Ogier in the fight for sixth.

Ogier spoiled Rovanpera’s chance of a clean sweep of the morning stages after edging the Finn in stage 12, who lost time to wild slide, by 0.7s. Evans clocked the third fastest time to pull 3.5s from Tanak but was also lucky after skimming barrier during his run.

Citroen driver Yohan Rossel sits eighth overall to lead the WRC2 class. Crews will return to the stages this afternoon following a midday service.

WRC Croatia: Full Saturday morning results

Cla	Driver/Codriver	Car	Total Time	Gap
1	Elfyn Evans Scott Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	1:47'56.5
2	Ott Tanak Martin Jarveoja	Ford Puma Rally1	1:48'19.1	22.6
3	Esapekka Lappi Janne Ferm	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	1:48'41.3	44.8
4	Pierre-Louis Loubet Nicolas Gilsoul	Ford Puma Rally1	1:50'03.4	2'06.9
5	Sébastien Ogier Vincent Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	1:50'04.8	2'08.3
6	Takamoto Katsuta Aaron Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	1:50'06.0	2'09.5
7	Kalle Rovanperä Jonne Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	1:50'08.1	2'11.6
8	Jan Medved Izidor Šavelj	Opel Corsa Rally4	1:52'25.7	4'29.2
9	Yohan Rossel Arnaud Dunand	Citroën C3 Rally2	1:52'52.8	4'56.3
10	Nicolas Ciamin Yannick Roche	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	1:53'22.0	5'25.5
11	Nikolay Gryazin Konstantin Aleksandrov	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	1:53'22.4	5'25.9
12	Emil Lindholm Reeta Hämäläinen	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	1:54'18.1	6'21.6
13	Oliver Solberg Elliott Edmondson	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	1:54'35.9	6'39.4
14	Sami Pajari Enni Mälkönen	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	1:54'53.0	6'56.5
15	Adrien Fourmaux Alexandre Coria	Ford Fiesta Rally2	1:55'17.3	7'20.8
16	Gus Greensmith Jonas Andersson	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	1:57'26.6	9'30.1
17	Armin Kremer Ella Kremer	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	1:59'14.9	11'18.4
18	Laurent Pellier Marine Pelamourgues	Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:00'43.1	12'46.6
19	Mauro Miele Luca Beltrame	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	2:01'43.2	13'46.7
20	Norbert Herczig Ramón Ferencz	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:02'33.3	14'36.8
21	Johannes Keferbock Ilka Minor	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	2:02'45.0	14'48.5
22	Rok Turk Blanka Kacin	Hyundai i20 N Rally2	2:03'34.0	15'37.5
23	Patrick O'Brien Stephen O'Brien	Hyundai i20 N Rally2	2:04'28.8	16'32.3
24	Diego Jr. Rogelio Penate	Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:04'44.4	16'47.9
25	Tom Rensonnet Loïc Dumont	Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:05'18.5	17'22.0
26	Eamonn Kelly Conor Mohan	Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:05'39.0	17'42.5
27	Victor Cartier Marine Maye	Toyota Yaris Rally2-Kit	2:06'05.2	18'08.7
28	Thierry Neuville Martijn Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	2:07'32.0	19'35.5
29	Vlastimil Majerčák Jakub Slovák	Ford Fiesta Rally2	2:07'40.2	19'43.7
30	Fabio Schwarz Tim Rauber	Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:08'22.3	20'25.8
31	Zoltán László Gábor Zsíros	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:13'30.6	25'34.1
32	Marco Oldani Pietro D'Agostino	Peugeot 208 Rally4	2:13'39.5	25'43.0
33	Aleš Zrinski Rok Vidmar	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:14'49.4	26'52.9
34	Romet Jürgenson Siim Oja	Ford Fiesta Rally4	2:15'13.1	27'16.6
35	Tomas Hrvatin Djani Simčić	Renault Clio Rally4	2:17'23.2	29'26.7
36	Željko Magličić Ivan Poljak	Ford Fiesta Rally4	2:18'08.1	30'11.6
37	Eamonn Boland Michael Joseph	Citroën C3 Rally2	2:19'49.6	31'53.1
38	Jan Pokos Viljem Ošlaj	Peugeot 208 Rally4	2:20'30.4	32'33.9
39	Igor Mandić Albert Ivančić	Renault Clio Rally5	2:24'34.2	36'37.7
40	Hamza Anwar Martin Brady	Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:25'18.1	37'21.6
41	Grégoire Munster Louis Louka	Ford Fiesta Rally2	2:26'34.2	38'37.7
42	Henk Vossen Radboud van	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:28'37.0	40'40.5
43	William Creighton Liam Regan	Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:30'21.9	42'25.4
44	Vjekoslav Čičko Eugen Kokolić	Renault Clio Rally5	2:31'33.0	43'36.5
45	Alejandro Cachón Alejandro López	Citroën C3 Rally2	2:33'50.9	45'54.4
46	Georg Linnamäe James Morgan	Hyundai i20 N Rally2	2:35'20.3	47'23.8
47	Marko Lončarić Gabrijel Krnjić	Renault Clio Rally4	2:38'39.0	50'42.5
48	Matteo Fontana Alessandro Arnaboldi	Peugeot 208 Rally4	2:42'30.5	54'34.0
49	Roberto Jnr. Mauro Barreiro	Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:42'45.1	54'48.6
50	Erik Cais Petr Těšínský	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	3:13'22.5	1:25'26.0
51	Martin Ravenščak Dora Ravenščak	Ford Fiesta Rally3	3:13'46.7	1:25'50.2
52	Filip Kohn Tomáš Střeska	Ford Fiesta Rally3	3:23'24.9	1:35'28.4
53	Slaven Šekuljica Damir Petrović	Renault Clio Rally5	3:48'03.3	2:00'06.8
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