WRC | Rally Croatia, SS17-18: Neuville and Evans make mistakes. Today leader!

That the Croatian Rally was by no means over was clear from yesterday, with the first three within 11 seconds. This morning, however, things changed dramatically with Sébastien Ogier sensationally finding himself in the lead of the event.

It all happened on SS18, the third to last special of the day, when first Elfyn Evans and then the now former race leader Thierry Neuville committed two errors that led them to lose almost 20 seconds each, also giving up their respective positions to the 8 times world champion.

Elfyn Evans ended up spinning, slightly damaging the rear bumper of his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. Neuville didn't have time to be warned of his rival's mistake and this probably cost him the race.

Entering practice, the Belgian made a mistake of his own and ended up crashing into a pile of dirt after spinning. His i20 N Rally1 arrived at the end of the test very badly damaged in the bodywork, with visible damage on the entire right side and on the rear wing, of which only the supports remained.

The basis for Neuville's mistake seems to have been a misunderstanding in the notes which forced him to avoid the accident in the middle of the woods, while he was intent on tackling a series of curves in sequence on a very narrow stretch.

The result is that Sébastien Ogier found himself in the lead without wanting to attack to avoid losing significant points to teammate Elfyn Evans in the fight for the Drivers' championship title.

But the twists certainly don't end there. Adrien Fourmaux, who was comfortable in fifth place overall, made a mistake and ended up hitting an anti-cut block placed in a right-hand corner. This led to the failure of the front right suspension of his Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid.

After the impact, the Frenchman stopped along the special stage to try to fix the break and, after several minutes, he succeeded. For him this is an important aspect, because only by finishing today's stage will he be able to confirm the points obtained at the end of yesterday evening.

With what happened in Fourmaux, Takamoto Katsuta thus rises to fifth place in the general classification and, consequently, Andreas Mikkelsen and Gregoire Munster also gain a position behind the Japanese.

Nothing new in WRC2, with the Citroen C3 Rally2s of Nikolay Gryazin and Yohan Rossel continuing to dominate the class. The discussion for third position reopens, with Gus Greensmith back just 2″4 from the lowest step of the podium. Sami Pajari will have to risk more in the next 2 tests if I want to finish in the Top 3 this weekend.

WRC 2024 – Rally Croatia – Ranking after SS18