Ogier thanks Neuville and Evans and wins the Croatian Rally | FP

The three-way matches between Friday and Saturday

Croatia Rally started immediately in the sign of a long fight between Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans, with the Belgian leading the standings for the majority of the event. Ahead of everyone with a decent advantage in the first part of Friday, the Hyundai driver however lost the lead after a puncture in the sixth stage, thus allowing Evans and Sébastien Ogier to reduce the gap with an exchange of leadership between Neuville himself and the Welshman from Toyota, which once again ended in favor of the Belgian at the end of the day. A battle that then continued on Saturday afternoon after Neuville's dominance during the morning, at least until the rain hit some sectors. In this circumstance, the Hyundai driver opted for the wrong tyres, unlike Evans, who returned to the lead at the end of SS13. However, in the final stages of the day, Neuville managed to manage the tires best in the longest stages of the Croatian rally, returning to the lead again.

The unexpected ending

However, what happened in the city was incredible third and final day of the Croatian Rally: while in the initial stage on Sunday Katsuta achieved the best time, with Neuville still remaining leader of the classification, both the Belgian and Evans were then protagonists of two sensational spin with and related impacts damage to their cars, especially for Neuville. Two episodes that have thus allowed an incredulous Ogier thus being able to move to the top of the ranking, with around 10 seconds of advantage over both riders. Despite not achieving the best performance in SS18 and SS19, the Frenchman then maintained an advantage of 6 seconds over Evans and 18 over Neuville on the eve of the Power Stage, for an entirely transalpine success: in addition to Adrien Fourmaux's best time in this stage, Ogier confirmed his leadership over Evans and Neuville, thus obtaining his first victory of the season and becoming the fourth different driver to win in the first four rounds of this world championship. The appointment is now from 9 to 12 Mayweekend in which the Portugal Rally.

Rally Croatia 2024 – Final ranking (top-10)