The leaders of the 2024 World Cup are off to a strong start. Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe immediately made their mark by winning the opening round of the Croatian Rally, the fourth round of the WRC and the first completely on asphalt of the current season.
The Hyundai Motorsport crew took advantage of the best starting position ever on the asphalt, i.e. first, to set the best time and win SS1, the Krasic – Sosice 1 of 23.63 kilometres, stopping the clock in 12' 42″3.
Despite accentuated understeer, Neuville was able to take advantage of a road that had not yet been made slippery by the numerous cuts, as he had no cars entered into testing before him. This allowed him to give his all and inflict important gaps on everyone.
The only driver to resist and show a gap of less than 10 seconds was Elfyn Evans, Neuville's main rival in the chase for the Drivers' title. The Welshman of Toyota Gazoo Racing did 6.6 seconds worse than the Belgian, but he too was able to take advantage of a good starting position, second, which helped him limit the gap.
Excellent performance instead for Sébastien Ogier, third at 14″5 from Neuville and author of a stage which once again confirmed his great talent. Starting in an unfavorable position, Ogier was good at containing the margin from Neuville especially in the part central stage of the test, also taking away the challenge of putting two drivers behind him who were ahead of him when entering the special stage.
The first of these is Ott Tanak, fourth with the second Hyundai i20 N Rally1 and 3″3 slower than Ogier. The top 5 is closed by the first Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid, that of Afrien Fourmaux, 2″6 behind the fourth time of Tanak. The Frenchman was perhaps too cautious in some sections, so much so that he lost more than expected on a surface that usually enhances his driving skills.
Bad start for those who can be considered the third crews of Toyota and Hyundai. Takamoto Katsuta did not go beyond the sixth fastest time, but was 36 seconds and 4 tenths behind. An enormity. But this is nothing compared to the 50 second delay from Neuville that Andreas Mikkelsen had to take note of.
The Norwegian was recalled by Hyundai to complete a very rich line up, but based on the results of Esapekka Lappi signed between last year and the beginning of this one, one wonders if there was really a need to entrust the third i20 to a driver who hadn't raced in the WRC's top class for years. Gregoire Munster's ninth and last time among the Rally1s is not newsworthy, even if the 7″3 delay from Mikkelsen should worry… the Norwegian.
As expected, a dazzling start for the Citroen C3 Rally2 in WRC2. Nikolay Gryazin achieved the eighth fastest time overall, just 2.3 seconds behind Mikkelsen with a car well inferior to the i20 N Rally1 and, consequently, first in his category. Second fastest time for the second transalpine car driven by Yohan Rossel. Third place for the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 of Gus Greensmith ahead of the first Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 driven by Finnish Sami Pajari.
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