WRC Croatia: Rovanpera stars as rain wreaks havoc on Friday morning

Rovanpera emerged as the class of the field winning three of the four morning stages held on slippery wet asphalt as he made the most of the clean conditions being first on the road.

The Toyota driver ended the loop with a 12.5s lead over Neuville, who produced a solid display for Hyundai, with team-mate Ott Tanak, 47.3s adrift in third.

Craig Breen will head in to the afternoon stages in fourth, only 1.9s shy of the final podium position. M-Sport team-mate Gus Greensmith completed the distance in fifth. But it proved to be a challenging day for the Ford squad, who lost Adrien Fourmaux to a spin off the road on stage 3, while Pierre-Louis Loubet retired after suffering three punctures in two stages.

Elfyn Evans also suffered two front left punctures across the morning stages which left him 2 minutes and 1s adrift in eighth, behind Oliver Solberg and Takamoto Katsuta after Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi retired on the opening stage. 

The rally began in an eventful fashion as crews grappled with the slippery conditions and a road that became increasingly dirtier as drivers dragged mud onto the surface from cutting corners.

Rovanpera set a blistering time on the first test, winning the stage by 4.1s from Neuville, who was lucky to escape from an excursion into a ditch on the exit of the third corner.

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

The Belgian labelled the stage “horrible” and the challenging road was winning few fans among the drivers.  

Breen emerged third fastest ahead of Tanak while Greensmith was fortunate to wrestle his car back on the road after a wild moment that resulted in his Ford Puma climbing a grass bank, narrowly avoiding a tree.

Solberg also lost time to a spin but worse was to come for Toyota’s Lappi and Evans, and M-Sport’s Loubet. 

Lappi clipped a rock while cutting a right hander which damaged his front right suspension, ending his day early on his Croatia debut, while Evans picked up a front left puncture and lost 1minute 20s. 

Meanwhile, Loubet could count himself unlucky as the Frenchman picked up punctures to both his front tyres, but was able to replenish his rubber having carried two spares.

Rovanpera continued his impressive start by winning the second stage and again Neuville emerged as his nearest rival, albeit 7.5s adrift.

Breen lost his grip of third overall to Tanak after the Irishman dropped 12s when he suffered a moment on the wet roads. The M-Sport driver ran wide on a left hander and elected to take evasive action by running up a grass bank avoiding a water hydrant in the process.

Esapekka Lappi, Janne Ferm, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Behind, team-mate Loubet suffered even more misfortune, as he incurred a third puncture of the day, which ruled him out of the remaining stages on Friday.

The rain returned at the start of the third stage but it failed to dampen Rovanpera’s charge although he was unable to complete three consecutive stage wins.

Team-mate Evans issued a response after his slow start to the rally to take the honours in stage 3, posting a time 2.6s faster than Rovanpera, while Tanak was third and Breen fourth.

Up until this point Fourmaux was the only M-Sport driver to avoid trouble. However, that ended 200m into the stage when he lost the rear of this Puma and speared through a hedge, before coming to rest in a garden. The Frenchman didn’t start the final stage of morning.

Rovanpera wrapped up a strong opening morning by winning the final stage before service held in heavy rain. Neuville kept the pressure on the Finn, to sit 0.7s back while Breen made up 6.1s on Tanak in the battle for third.

After suffering his second puncture of the morning, Evans managed to limit the damage by dropping only 16.8s.

Yoann Rossel leads WRC2 from Britain's Chris Ingram, while Jon Armstrong tops the Junior WRC category, sitting an impressive 18th overall.   

The crews will repeat the morning loop of stages this afternoon.

Results:

Cla	Driver/Codriver		Car	Total Time	Gap
1	Kalle Rovanperä Jonne Halttunen		Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	25'58.800
2	Thierry Neuville Martijn Wydaeghe		Hyundai i20 N Rally1	26'10.400	11.600
3	Ott Tanak Martin Jarveoja		Hyundai i20 N Rally1	26'32.300	33.500
4	Craig Breen Paul Nagle		Ford Puma Rally1	26'38.800	40.000
5	Gus Greensmith Jonas Andersson		Ford Puma Rally1	26'58.700	59.900
6	Adrien Fourmaux Alexandre Coria		Ford Puma Rally1	27'07.300	1'08.500
7	Oliver Solberg Elliott Edmondson		Hyundai i20 N Rally1	27'15.200	1'16.400
8	Takamoto Katsuta Aaron Johnston		Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	27'23.100	1'24.300
9	Elfyn Evans Scott Martin		Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	27'46.500	1'47.700
10	Yohan Rossel Valentin Sarreaud		Citroën C3 Rally2	28'02.300	2'03.500
11	Chris Ingram Craig Drew		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	28'15.600	2'16.800
12	Nikolay Gryazin Konstantin Aleksandrov		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	28'36.200	2'37.400
13	Stéphane Lefebvre Andy Malfoy		Citroën C3 Rally2	28'39.700	2'40.900
14	Kajetan Kajetanowicz Maciek Szczepaniak		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	28'40.700	2'41.900
15	Jari Huttunen Mikko Lukka		Ford Fiesta Rally2	28'45.500	2'46.700
16	Eric Camilli Thibault De la Haye		Citroën C3 Rally2	28'46.600	2'47.800
17	Emil Lindholm Reeta Hämäläinen		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	28'57.300	2'58.500
18	Grégoire Munster Louis Louka		Hyundai i20 N Rally2	29'09.600	3'10.800
19	Jon Armstrong Brian Hoy		Ford Fiesta Rally3	29'25.400	3'26.600
20	Erik Cais Petr Těšínský		Ford Fiesta Rally2	29'26.800	3'28.000
21	Robert Virves Aleks Lesk		Ford Fiesta Rally3	29'38.500	3'39.700
22	Lauri Joona Mikael Korhonen		Ford Fiesta Rally3	29'42.400	3'43.600
23	Neil Simpson Michael Gibson		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	29'47.400	3'48.600
24	Armin Kremer Timo Gottschalk		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	29'51.500	3'52.700
25	Mikko Heikkilä Samu Vaaleri		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	29'59.500	4'00.700
26	Sami Pajari Enni Mälkönen		Ford Fiesta Rally3	29'59.700	4'00.900
27	Georg Linnamäe James Morgan		Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	29'59.900	4'01.100
28	Mauro Miele Luca Beltrame		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	30'01.000	4'02.200
29	Mikołaj Marczyk Szymon Gospodarczyk		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	30'07.300	4'08.500
30	Johannes Keferbock Ilka Minor		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	30'19.100	4'20.300
31	Olivier Burri Anderson Levratti		Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	30'42.500	4'43.700
32	Jean-Baptiste Franceschi Anthony Gorguilo		Ford Fiesta Rally3	30'44.200	4'45.400
33	Sean Johnston Alexander Kihurani		Citroën C3 Rally2	30'45.700	4'46.900
34	Pierre Ragues Julien Pesenti		Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	31'10.200	5'11.400
35	Pierre-Louis Loubet Vincent Landais		Ford Puma Rally1	31'23.000	5'24.200
36	Benito Guerra Daniel Cue		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	31'37.800	5'39.000
37	Enrico Brazzoli Manuel Fenoli		Ford Fiesta Rally3	31'54.000	5'55.200
38	Róbert Bútor Róbert Tagai		Peugeot 208 Rally4	32'51.400	6'52.600
39	Aljosa Novak Uroš Ocvirk		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	32'55.700	6'56.900
40	Alfred Kramer Jeannette Andersson		Peugeot 208 Rally4	32'59.300	7'00.500
41	Darko Peljhan Matej Čar		Škoda Fabia R5	33'25.000	7'26.200
42	Niko Pulic Aleksandra Kovačić		Škoda Fabia R5	33'34.700	7'35.900
43	Ricardo Trivino Marc Marti		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	33'34.800	7'36.000
44	Filippo Marchino Roberto Briani		Škoda Fabia R5	33'46.000	7'47.200
45	Vlastimil Majerčák Jakub Slovák		Ford Fiesta Rally3	34'12.600	8'13.800
46	Zoltán László Tamás Kürti		Ford Fiesta Rally3	34'23.600	8'24.800
47	Fabrizio Arengi Massimiliano Bosi		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	34'57.400	8'58.600
48	Ivica Siladić Jasna Durak		Ford Fiesta Rally3	35'03.500	9'04.700
49	Martin Ravenščak Marko Stiperski		Ford Fiesta Rally4	35'24.800	9'26.000
50	Viliam Prodan Zoran Raštegorac		Renault Clio Rally4	35'32.900	9'34.100
51	McRae Kimathi Mwangi Kioni		Ford Fiesta Rally3	36'21.100	10'22.300
52	Željko Magličić Ivan Poljak		Ford Fiesta Rally4	36'41.200	10'42.400
53	Jan Pokos Viljem Ošlaj		Ford Fiesta Rally4	36'42.100	10'43.300
54	Krešimir Ravenščak Dora Ravenščak		Ford Fiesta Rally4	37'04.000	11'05.200
55	Lazar Milovanović Goran Rabasović		Ford Fiesta Rally4	37'16.300	11'17.500
56	Carlo Covi Michela Lorigiola		Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	38'49.600	12'50.800
57	Henk Vossen Hans van Goor		Ford Fiesta R5	39'03.600	13'04.800
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