WRC Croatia: Neuville leads Evans after Ogier wheel failure

The Belgian, driving one of two Hyundai’s carrying a special tribute livery to the late Craig Breen, ended the morning loop at the asphalt rally with a 16.1s lead over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.

M-Sport’s Ott Tanak managed to reach service park in third, 22.1 seconds adrift despite struggling with his Ford Puma, while the sister Hyundai of Esapekka Lappi was fourth, 34.9s in arrears. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet completed the top six.

After changing a wheel on stage 2, Ogier won three of the four stages but ended the loop seventh overall, 1m27.1s behind.

Rovanpera found himself outside of the points after his delay, which was compounded by struggles coping with the dirty road conditions.

The rally began under clear skies with Ogier making the most of the cleanest of the road conditions, starting first in the order.

The eight-time world champion and championship leader delivered a stunning time despite the low grip caused by mud that had been brought onto the surface from rain in the lead up to the event.

Ogier was 2.6s faster than Neuville, second on the road, although the Belgian was struggling with the handling of his i20 N, admitting at stage end that he ”was fighting the car" and had a “big job” to do to reach the finish.

The road conditions became increasingly worse after every pass with the next fastest being Tanak, who was 10.5s slower, although some of the time loss was down to a stall at a tight hairpin left.

Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

"I was losing the boost and then I stalled,” said Tanak. "After that I really struggled with many things. We got some steering issue already on the road section.”

Rovanpera was 0.8s slower than the Estonian as he struggled to extract speed from his GR Yaris.

The Finn’s rally hopes would take a more decisive blow on the next stage as he and Ogier suffered a tyre deflation, which appeared to be caused by the same pot hole 12km into the 25km test.

Ogier lost the rally lead as he dropped 1m32s in the test, but incredibly was able to change his damaged wheel and tyre in little over a minute.

"I avoided the cuts as much as I could but it was just the compression that made the puncture. What can I do?," said Ogier.

Rovanpera lost 2m17s in the test which dropped him out of the top 10.

There was also a slight drama for Neuville, who ended up winning the stage to inherit the rally lead. Neuville misjudged a chicane and clipped a hay bale which caused damage to the front of his tricolour i20N.

“We will keep going but if it's going to be tricky like this and hard to drive the car like this all weekend, it wont be easy,” said Neuville, who ended the stage 4.2s faster than second fastest Elfyn Evans, the Welshman recorded only one shakedown run on Thursday due to a turbo issue.

Ogier bounced back to win stage 3 as he pipped Neuville by 0.8s, with Evans lucky to be third fastest after suffering from a slow puncture towards the end of the test. Tanak kept himself in the mix as he battled his Puma to clock a time, 0.5s slower than Evans.

Rovanpera, however, continued to struggle adjusting to the road conditions and dropped another 8.1s.

“I am struggling with the car in the cuts and I think that's where I am losing most of the time,” he said.

Ogier once again proved he is the man to beat on the asphalt stage by claiming his third stage win from four in the final test of the loop.

The part-time Toyota driver and 2021 Croatia winner was 1.3s faster than Tanak, while leader Neuville dropped 2.1s.

In WRC2, Yohan Rossel led the class by 29.7s from Nikolay Gryazin ahead of a second pass through the stages for the crews this afternoon.

WRC Croatia: Friday morning result

Cla	Driver/Codriver	Car	Class	Total Time	Gap
1	Marko Lončarić Gabrijel Krnjić	Renault Clio Rally4	RC4	26'13.2
2	Thierry Neuville Martijn Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	RC1	32'50.0	6'36.8
3	Elfyn Evans Scott Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	RC1	33'06.4	6'53.2
4	Ott Tanak Martin Jarveoja	Ford Puma Rally1	RC1	33'13.0	6'59.8
5	Esapekka Lappi Janne Ferm	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	RC1	33'22.5	7'09.3
6	Takamoto Katsuta Aaron Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	RC1	33'37.4	7'24.2
7	Pierre-Louis Loubet Nicolas Gilsoul	Ford Puma Rally1	RC1	33'42.4	7'29.2
8	Sébastien Ogier Vincent Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	RC1	34'19.2	8'06.0
9	Yohan Rossel Arnaud Dunand	Citroën C3 Rally2	RC2	34'22.4	8'09.2
10	Nicolas Ciamin Yannick Roche	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	RC2	34'55.9	8'42.7
11	Oliver Solberg Elliott Edmondson	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	RC2	34'56.5	8'43.3
12	Nikolay Gryazin Konstantin Aleksandrov	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	RC2	34'56.6	8'43.4
13	Sami Pajari Enni Mälkönen	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	RC2	35'10.1	8'56.9
14	Alejandro Cachón Alejandro López	Citroën C3 Rally2	RC2	35'18.3	9'05.1
15	Kalle Rovanperä Jonne Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	RC1	35'23.4	9'10.2
16	Georg Linnamäe James Morgan	Hyundai i20 N Rally2	RC2	35'37.3	9'24.1
17	Emil Lindholm Reeta Hämäläinen	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	RC2	35'46.6	9'33.4
18	Grégoire Munster Louis Louka	Ford Fiesta Rally2	RC2	35'52.4	9'39.2
19	Adrien Fourmaux Alexandre Coria	Ford Fiesta Rally2	RC2	36'08.3	9'55.1
20	Norbert Herczig Ramón Ferencz	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	RC2	36'12.2	9'59.0
21	Armin Kremer Ella Kremer	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	RC2	36'17.6	10'04.4
22	Laurent Pellier Marine Pelamourgues	Ford Fiesta Rally3	RC3	36'42.6	10'29.4
23	William Creighton Liam Regan	Ford Fiesta Rally3	RC3	36'56.7	10'43.5
24	Gus Greensmith Jonas Andersson	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	RC2	37'10.9	10'57.7
25	Johannes Keferbock Ilka Minor	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	RC2	37'14.2	11'01.0
26	Mauro Miele Luca Beltrame	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	RC2	37'15.3	11'02.1
27	Patrick O'Brien Stephen O'Brien	Hyundai i20 N Rally2	RC2	37'17.7	11'04.5
28	Roberto Jnr. Mauro Barreiro	Ford Fiesta Rally3	RC3	37'56.4	11'43.2
29	Rok Turk Blanka Kacin	Hyundai i20 N Rally2	RC2	37'59.3	11'46.1
30	Diego Jr. Rogelio Penate	Ford Fiesta Rally3	RC3	38'09.1	11'55.9
31	Tom Rensonnet Loïc Dumont	Ford Fiesta Rally3	RC3	38'18.7	12'05.5
32	Victor Cartier Marine Maye	Toyota Yaris Rally2-Kit	RC2	38'23.7	12'10.5
33	Eamonn Kelly Conor Mohan	Ford Fiesta Rally3	RC3	38'35.4	12'22.2
34	Raúl Hernández Rodrigo Sanjuan	Ford Fiesta Rally3	RC3	38'39.7	12'26.5
35	Vlastimil Majerčák Jakub Slovák	Ford Fiesta Rally2	RC2	38'56.0	12'42.8
36	Fabio Schwarz Tim Rauber	Ford Fiesta Rally3	RC3	39'17.2	13'04.0
37	Jan Medved Izidor Šavelj	Opel Corsa Rally4	RC4	39'47.7	13'34.5
38	Eamonn Boland Michael Joseph	Citroën C3 Rally2	RC2	39'55.5	13'42.3
39	Matteo Fontana Alessandro Arnaboldi	Peugeot 208 Rally4	RC4	40'05.4	13'52.2
40	Zoltán László Gábor Zsíros	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	RC2	40'16.1	14'02.9
41	Marco Oldani Pietro D'Agostino	Peugeot 208 Rally4	RC4	40'56.4	14'43.2
42	Tomas Hrvatin Djani Simčić	Renault Clio Rally4	RC4	40'59.7	14'46.5
43	Aleš Zrinski Rok Vidmar	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	RC2	41'21.0	15'07.8
44	Romet Jürgenson Siim Oja	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	41'23.8	15'10.6
45	Željko Magličić Ivan Poljak	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	41'39.7	15'26.5
46	Igor Mandić Albert Ivančić	Renault Clio Rally5	RC5	43'42.5	17'29.3
47	Jan Pokos Viljem Ošlaj	Peugeot 208 Rally4	RC4	44'00.1	17'46.9
48	Henk Vossen Radboud van	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	RC2	44'36.5	18'23.3
49	Vjekoslav Čičko Eugen Kokolić	Renault Clio Rally5	RC5	45'27.5	19'14.3
50	Hamza Anwar Martin Brady	Ford Fiesta Rally3	RC3	46'43.5	20'30.3
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