As Kalle Rovanperä / Jonne Halttunen continue their dominance at the Rally of Croatia, this third FIA WRC event of the season is igniting in the fight for the remaining podium positions.
The Finns of Toyota have again won the PS5 “Mali Lipovec-Grdanjci 2” (19.20km) and PS6 “Stojdraga-Gornja Vas 2” (20.77km), and with the GR Yaris they command for 1’02 “3 on their pursuers .
And here there is an exchange of positions between the Hyundai because now in the place of honor we have the i20 N of Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja with a 3 “2 margin over that of Thierry Neuville / Martijn Wydaeghe.
Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Once again the Belgian duo are suffering the pains of hell and through no fault of their own. At the end of the PS4, the Korean car fell silent 800m from the time control and the couple had to get off to push it by hand, arriving 4 ‘late and getting a 40 “penalty.
Exhausted from the effort, Neuville and Wydaeghe still managed to restart after the Hyundai technicians fixed the alternator fault during the stop at the Service Park, but in the PS6 – always in rain and fog conditions – the windshield began to fog up and so it was inevitable to lift the foot so as not to crash.
A Neuville visibly upset by the umpteenth problem he suffered due to mechanical problems was saved by overtaking Craig Breen / Paul Nagle, who, however, with the M-Sport Ford Puma are 12.5 from the podium.
Craig Breen, Paul Nagle, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo by: M-Sport
Instead, Gus Greensmith / Jonas Andersson slipped back with the other Puma, struggling with a puncture and a broken circle on PS5 before missing a corner on PS6 and sadly finding himself eighth.
In the general classification, the Hyundai of Oliver Solberg / Elliott Edmondson gains the Top5, but arrived at the arrival of the PS6 with considerable damage to the front after a skid in aqualaning that the son of art was unable to control.
According to him, the car was still drivable, but aesthetically it did not appear in good shape to be able to continue in the remaining 20km that will lead to the end of Stage 1.
Then they smell another position earned by Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin, who at the moment climbed sixth with their Toyota overtaking that of their teammates Takamoto Katsuta / Aaron Johnston.
Behind the aforementioned duo Greensmith / Andersson remain Yohan Rossel / Valentin Sarreaud at the wheel of the Citroën C3 Rally2 of PH Sport with which they drive the WRC2 Class, followed by the Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo of Nikolay Gryazin / Konstantin Aleksandrov (Toksport WRT) and Chris Ingram / Craig Drew.
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