WRC Croatia: Rovanpera responds to Tanak’s Saturday charge

The Toyota driver came under pressure from Hyundai's Tanak after losing almost a minute to the 2019 world champion following a front left puncture on Stage 11 earlier this morning.

Tanak managed to close to within 13s of Rovanpera during the afternoon before the rally leader fought back winning the final stage of the day, his seventh fastest time of the event, to extend his overall lead to 19.9s.

Tanak emerged as Rovanpera’s nearest rival after his Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville was hit with a one minute penalty overnight for speeding on a road section that dropped the Belgian from second to fourth overall.

M-Sport-Ford’s Craig Breen ended the day in the final podium position but only has slender 4.9s advantage over Neuville in fourth. Neuville started the day 28.8s behind Breen but produced a stirring fightback despite battling against an engine issue.

Toyota’s Elfyn Evans ended the day in fifth after moving up a position following Oliver Solberg’s crash on stage 9, that resulted in his Hyundai catching fire. Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson escaped the incident unharmed.

Takamoto Katsuta was the last of the Rally1 cars, to have completed the full distance thus far, in sixth.

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

For the first time this weekend crews faced sunny and dry conditions for the first of the afternoon’s stages, a repeat of the test that was cancelled after Solberg’s high-speed crash.

Retuning to the action after a collision with a boulder ended his Friday early, Esapekka Lappi notched up his second stage win of the day as the Toyota driver pipped Neuville to the fastest time by 0.7s.

Neuville’s time arrived despite his Hyundai suffering from an engine problem that limited him to 40% throttle for the final five kilometres.

Battling a gearbox issue, Tanak took more time out of rally leader Rovanpera, cutting the overall deficit to 13s as the latter elected for a more cautious approach after the earlier puncture.

Lappi struck again on Stage 14 to claim a hat trick of fastest times, this time he had a 2.7s margin over Neuville, who confirmed that his engine was working normally in the stage.

Neuville’s pace allowed him to take more time out of the gap to Breen, sitting in third overall, with the gap coming down to 5.9s.

Rovanpera managed to get the better of Tanak which saw his overall lead extend back out to 14.8s.

Craig Breen, Paul Nagle, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: M-Sport

The crews were forced to skip Stage 15 as event organisers cancelled the stage for safety reasons due to poor visibility, as thick fog descended around the 15.85km test.

The final stage of the day, held in the late evening sun, was won by Rovanpera by 3.4s from team-mate Lappi.

"This is my reply. It was a good stage - full send,” said Rovanpera when asked if this was a reply to Tanak’s pressure.

Neuville managed to claw another second back over Breen after beating the Irishman to the third fastest time in the stage.

Rally Croatia concludes on Sunday after four more stages.

Results:

Cla	Driver/Codriver		Car	Total Time	Gap	Interval
1	Kalle Rovanperä Jonne Halttunen		Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2:10'18.500
2	Thierry Neuville Martijn Wydaeghe		Hyundai i20 N Rally1	2:10'23.100	4.600	4.600
3	Ott Tanak Martin Jarveoja		Hyundai i20 N Rally1	2:10'33.300	14.800	10.200
4	Craig Breen Paul Nagle		Ford Puma Rally1	2:11'27.200	1'08.700	53.900
5	Elfyn Evans Scott Martin		Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2:12'21.400	2'02.900	54.200
6	Takamoto Katsuta Aaron Johnston		Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2:15'58.200	5'39.700	3'36.800
7	Yohan Rossel Valentin Sarreaud		Citroën C3 Rally2	2:18'16.400	7'57.900	2'18.200
8	Nikolay Gryazin Konstantin Aleksandrov		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:18'55.800	8'37.300	39.400
9	Kajetan Kajetanowicz Maciek Szczepaniak		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:19'12.400	8'53.900	16.600
10	Emil Lindholm Reeta Hämäläinen		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:19'41.100	9'22.600	28.700
11	Chris Ingram Craig Drew		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:20'32.100	10'13.600	51.000
12	Eric Camilli Thibault De la Haye		Citroën C3 Rally2	2:20'44.100	10'25.600	12.000
13	Stéphane Lefebvre Andy Malfoy		Citroën C3 Rally2	2:21'00.600	10'42.100	16.500
14	Sami Pajari Enni Mälkönen		Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:22'44.300	12'25.800	1'43.700
15	Robert Virves Aleks Lesk		Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:22'46.400	12'27.900	2.100
16	Erik Cais Petr Těšínský		Ford Fiesta Rally2	2:23'00.500	12'42.000	14.100
17	Lauri Joona Mikael Korhonen		Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:23'47.500	13'29.000	47.000
18	Gus Greensmith Jonas Andersson		Ford Puma Rally1	2:24'11.100	13'52.600	23.600
19	Mikko Heikkilä Samu Vaaleri		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:25'37.200	15'18.700	1'26.100
20	Mikołaj Marczyk Szymon Gospodarczyk		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:25'50.700	15'32.200	13.500
21	Armin Kremer Timo Gottschalk		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:26'00.000	15'41.500	9.300
22	Sean Johnston Alexander Kihurani		Citroën C3 Rally2	2:26'03.800	15'45.300	3.800
23	Johannes Keferbock Ilka Minor		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:28'07.600	17'49.100	2'03.800
24	Jean-Baptiste Franceschi Anthony Gorguilo		Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:28'13.100	17'54.600	5.500
25	Benito Guerra Daniel Cue		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:29'16.800	18'58.300	1'03.700
26	Mauro Miele Luca Beltrame		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:29'33.300	19'14.800	16.500
27	Olivier Burri Anderson Levratti		Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	2:30'01.400	19'42.900	28.100
28	Pierre Ragues Julien Pesenti		Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	2:31'31.400	21'12.900	1'30.000
29	Aljosa Novak Uroš Ocvirk		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:34'29.000	24'10.500	2'57.600
30	Darko Peljhan Matej Čar		Škoda Fabia R5	2:36'45.100	26'26.600	2'16.100
31	Róbert Bútor Róbert Tagai		Peugeot 208 Rally4	2:37'21.400	27'02.900	36.300
32	Jari Huttunen Mikko Lukka		Ford Fiesta Rally2	2:39'30.900	29'12.400	2'09.500
33	Alfred Kramer Jeannette Andersson		Peugeot 208 Rally4	2:39'54.600	29'36.100	23.700
34	Vlastimil Majerčák Jakub Slovák		Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:40'38.700	30'20.200	44.100
35	Zoltán László Tamás Kürti		Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:43'56.000	33'37.500	3'17.300
36	Enrico Brazzoli Manuel Fenoli		Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:45'05.400	34'46.900	1'09.400
37	Fabrizio Arengi Massimiliano Bosi		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:45'12.100	34'53.600	6.700
38	Viliam Prodan Zoran Raštegorac		Renault Clio Rally4	2:45'14.600	34'56.100	2.500
39	Neil Simpson Michael Gibson		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	2:45'34.700	35'16.200	20.100
40	Martin Ravenščak Marko Stiperski		Ford Fiesta Rally4	2:45'41.000	35'22.500	6.300
41	Ivica Siladić Jasna Durak		Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:46'50.700	36'32.200	1'09.700
42	Niko Pulic Aleksandra Kovačić		Škoda Fabia R5	2:46'58.100	36'39.600	7.400
43	Lazar Milovanović Goran Rabasović		Ford Fiesta Rally4	2:47'41.100	37'22.600	43.000
44	Krešimir Ravenščak Dora Ravenščak		Ford Fiesta Rally4	2:51'52.100	41'33.600	4'11.000
45	Georg Linnamäe James Morgan		Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	2:52'05.000	41'46.500	12.900
46	McRae Kimathi Mwangi Kioni		Ford Fiesta Rally3	2:52'35.600	42'17.100	30.600
47	Filippo Marchino Roberto Briani		Škoda Fabia R5	2:54'05.100	43'46.600	1'29.500
48	Henk Vossen Hans van Goor		Ford Fiesta R5	2:59'34.700	49'16.200	5'29.600
49	Ricardo Trivino Marc Marti		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	3:02'10.400	51'51.900	2'35.700
50	Pierre-Louis Loubet Vincent Landais		Ford Puma Rally1	3:15'22.900	1:05'04.400	13'12.500
51	Jan Pokos Viljem Ošlaj		Ford Fiesta Rally4	3:18'31.200	1:08'12.700	3'08.300
52	Esapekka Lappi Janne Ferm		Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	3:29'22.100	1:19'03.600	10'50.900
53	William Creighton Liam Regan		Ford Fiesta Rally3	3:36'47.600	1:26'29.100	7'25.500
54	Carlo Covi Michela Lorigiola		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	3:40'15.100	1:29'56.600	3'27.500
55	Osamu Fukunaga Misako Saida		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	3:43'05.900	1:32'47.400	2'50.800
56	Željko Magličić Ivan Poljak		Ford Fiesta Rally4	3:49'22.000	1:39'03.500	6'16.100
57	Cristiana Oprea Andrei Mitrașcă		Peugeot 208 R2	4:10'45.000	2:00'26.500	21'23.000
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