The Croatian Rally, the fourth round of the 2024 WRC, restarted this morning with the first two special stages of the second stage, continuing to present the same scenario as yesterday: three drivers fighting for victory.
Although he didn't win either of the two tests held this morning, Thierry Neuville managed to gain a slight lead on the first of the two Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers following him, Elfyn Evans.
The Belgian signed 2 second times on SS9 and SS10, gaining a few tenths of a lead on the Welshman. Of course, his margin remains small, just 8 tenths, but the signal that arrived this morning is important: despite the fact that the tests were much more suited to the GR Yaris Rally1 – proof of this is Takamoto Katsuta's third time on SS10, 4 tenths from the best time – Neuville was able to get the same time as Evans and only lose 3 tenths in 20 kilometers from Ogier.
This, at least on paper, suggests a continuation of the three-way fight we witnessed yesterday afternoon, which would actually make this fourth event of the season very tasty.
Not to be underestimated is Sébastien Ogier, who seems to be the driver best in tune with his car on the narrow roads expected for today. The 8-time world champion had the satisfaction of winning the SS10 Stojdraga – Gornja Vas 1 of 20.77 kilometres, returning to 6.8 seconds behind Neuville.
However, the gap between Ott Tanak – fourth in the second Hyundai i20 N Rally1 in the race – and Adrien Fourmaux in the first Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid remained unchanged. Between the two there are 11″6, although the Frenchman from the M-Sport Ford team was able to win the inaugural test of the day, the Special Test 9 Smerovisce – Grdanjci 1 of 15.72 kilometres.
Outside the Top 5 the gaps are so wide as to be almost crystallized. Takamoto Katsuta, sixth, is over 45 seconds behind Fourmaux, but also over a minute ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen. In turn, the Norwegian from Hyundai has a 47 second margin over Gregoire Munster.
In WRC2 the Citroen C3 Rally2s of Nikolay Gryazin and Yohan Rossel continue to dominate. There is a gap of 22″4 between the two French cars, while in third place is Gus Greensmith's Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, 22″6 behind Rossel.
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