The Safari Rally having been shelved just a couple of weeks ago, the WRC is back as a protagonist this weekend with the Croatia Rally Shakedown, the fourth round of the 2024 World Championship which will officially start tomorrow morning with the first of the 20 special stages planned.
In the test stage carried out this morning starting from 9:00 am Italian time on a 3.65 kilometer course called Okic, Sébastien Ogier was the fastest in the first of the two attempts made, stopping the clock in 1'55″7.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver, who returns to racing this weekend almost 3 months after his last appearance (Rallye Monte-Carlo), beat his teammate Elfyn Evans by a margin of 7 tenths. The Welshman, second in the Drivers' World Championship up to this point of the season, however achieved his best time on the third of the three passes made.
Behind the two Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 we find the first two Hyundai i20 N Rally1, those of Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak. Both signed the third time of the special in 1'57″1, 1″4 slower than Ogier. Both the world championship leader and his Estonian teammate obtained their time references in the second attempt, with Tanak not improving by just 2 tenths in the third attempt.
Closing the Top 5 is Adrien Fourmaux with the first Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid. The Frenchman, who returns to racing on the surface that best suits him in terms of characteristics, was 1″1 slower than the two Hyundais that preceded him, but still put the third i20 N Rally1, that of Andreas, behind him. Mikkelsen, the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 of Takamoto Katsuta and its sister car, the Ford Puma Rally1 M-Sport driven by Gregoire Munster.
Mikkelsen, who also returns to racing after 3 months, was the only driver at the wheel of a Rally1 to complete 4 laps, obtaining the best in the fourth. As regards WRC2, important signals for Citroen Racing with the C3 Rally2s of Yohan Rossel and Nikolay Gryazin in first and second place respectively in class, ahead of the first Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 of Sami Pajari and Enni Malkonen.
The first special stage of the 2024 Croatia Rally, the 23.63 kilometer PS1 Krasic – Sosice 1, will start tomorrow morning at 8:28 am Italian time. It will be at that time that the first car, the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 of world leaders Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe, will enter testing.
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