The first full day of action would see Takamoto and Aaron open the road for the first time as the championship leaders. They would face just over 100 kilometres over seven stages. There’d already been a stage on Thursday evening, and this gave us a leaderboard of sorts. At the end of the stage Takamoto led from Sami whilst WRC2 driver Roberto in his Skoda held third.

 

Into the first Friday stage then, SS2 Valleseco – Artenara 1 and Seb was fastest from Oliver and Elfyn with only just over a second between the three of them. Takamoto would set the fifth best time and fell to second overall as he was passed by Seb for the lead. Further back, Oliver and Elfyn also gained positions and moving into fourth and fifth respectively.

 

SS3 Tejeda – San Mateo 1 was sadly cancelled and the reason? Well, it turned out that there were parked cars in places which were a danger. Not great from the organisers really.

 

Onto the final morning stage then, SS4 Mogan – La Aldea 1 and once again Seb was fastest from Elfyn this time, whilst Sami was third. Takamoto once again was fifth fastest and with that fell a further three positions. Elfyn was the key mover as he emerged in third overall, whilst Sami’s time saw him move into second place. Just six seconds covered the top three positions. Jon had a moment in this one, and had to take to an escape road, spinning sideways.

After the service break came SS5 Valleseco – Artenara 2 and Seb was finally beaten by Oliver who was a tenth of a second faster, whilst Sami was third. In the overall positions, Oliver’s pace took him ahead of both Elfyn and Sami and into second overall. The gap widened slightly to 6.4 seconds.

 

Into SS6 Tejeda – San Mateo 2 which of course was the stage, which was cancelled earlier, and Seb was fastest from Oliver and Sami, whilst Elfyn was fourth. The top four positions remained unchanged.

 

Onto the final proper stage then, SS7 Mogan – La Aldea 2 and Seb was once again fastest from Oliver and Elfyn and with the Welshman’s pace, he passed his teammate, Sami for third overall, holding a small lead of 1.3 seconds over the Finn.

 

The final stage then, SS8 BP Ultimate – Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 2 was won by Sami from Takamoto and Adrien. Surprisingly the Finn passed Elfyn again for third overall, the gap now half a second.

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day One

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 54:27.5 2 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +8.9 3 S. Pajari S. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +15.9 4 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +16.4 5 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +29.7 6 D. Sordo C. Carrera Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +52.0 7 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +54.8 8 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:03.6 9 J. McErlean E. Tracey Ford Puma Rally1 +1:41.1 10 Y. Rossel A. Dunand Lancia Ypsilon HF Rally2 +1:59.5

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“We can be happy with today. The gaps are very close, which is normal on a rally like this, but it’s been evolving in the right direction for us. I wasn’t feeling completely happy with the car balance this morning, but I think we were all struggling a bit with that in these wide circuit-style stages where you place a lot of load on the tyres. This afternoon though we made some positive steps, and it was just feeling better and better in the car, so at the moment I’m happy and hope we can carry on with this feeling tomorrow.”

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been a good day. This morning I was just trying to find the feeling a bit and it wasn’t easy, but we made some changes in service, and I felt more comfortable in the car, and we had a much better afternoon. We were trading tenths of a second with Seb, so it’s very cool to know that the speed is there. After what happened in Croatia I wanted to start calmly, see where my feeling was and just increase things step-by-step. I’m happy with the position I’m in tonight and maybe we’ll try to push a bit more tomorrow.”

Sami Pajari

“Today has not been too bad. The stages have been really nice to drive, but my feeling has maybe not been quite as good as I was hoping for. It’s an extremely tight fight with our team-mates and it was a pity to lose a bit of ground in the afternoon. We were making some changes with the setup, and they weren’t all going in the perfect direction, and when the time differences are so small, even the slightest thing can create that gap. Still, we’re not too far away and just need to keep pushing.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s not been a perfect day for us; I can’t be completely satisfied. These racing-style stages are fun to drive but very demanding for the tyres and the balance on a rally car. It wasn’t feeling bad, but I was struggling a bit to get it turning in as I would like. We did manage to make some changes during the day and had a bit of a better feeling and speed in the last proper stage. So that’s something more positive to round out the day and hopefully we can carry that into tomorrow.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s not been an easy day for us. These are very nice stages, but I hoped they would be more enjoyable for me. In the morning already I was struggling a bit, and unfortunately this just seemed to get worse in the afternoon. I’ve just found it difficult to have the trust you need with the front end on these stages and to be as committed with the driving as I want to be, and so the times have not been great. It’s not been easy for the moment, but I have some ideas and hope we can find something to improve tomorrow.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Dani Sordo

“I am obviously very happy with today, that I am still competitive on the first day of Canarias. We are far from the Toyotas, but between the Hyundai drivers we are quite close together. I have not driven the Rally1 car in a rally for some time, so I am quite pleased to be on the pace. At the beginning of the day, I was a little bit faster than my team-mates, but they adjusted the car and this afternoon we were all very close. It is important that we work together with Thierry and Adrien and try to close the gap to the Toyotas.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“The stages have been absolutely beautiful and to be able to push on them in a Rally1 car is very unique and special, so this was really enjoyable. We need to manage the pace and the overheating of the tyres over the long stages, which are quite demanding for the car and brakes. It is very challenging, but also enjoyable. For us, it is difficult because we are not on the pace that we would like, but at least we have a ‘Hyundai Cup’ to play for. I went in a different direction with the setup this afternoon and it is working better now, so it is looking quite positive.”

Thierry Neuville

“It was quite a difficult start to the rally, honestly. All three cars made some changes for this afternoon, but I was struggling more on the first two stages. We are exchanging and sharing information, and obviously trying different things. Dani seemed to be happier than us in the morning and he was also faster. In the afternoon I struggled a bit on the first two stages; but I made a bigger change for the last one and I think we found a bit more balance that allows us to go faster.”

 

Saturday

The second full day of action will see the crews face 112 kilometres over six stages. Who will hold the lead at the end of the second day?

We move onto the fifth round of this year’s championship and the second all tarmac round in a row. Incredibly, Takamoto and Aaron took their second victory last time out and with their teammates, Elfyn and Scott, Oliver and Elliott both not taking big points in Croatia the crew in the number eighteen Yaris took the championship lead. They lead Elfyn and Scott by seven points with Oliver and Elliott a further thirteen points back.

 

Of course, as championship leaders for the first time Takamoto and Aaron will get to open the road for the first time on the first day of stages. Speaking of which, let’s take a look at the stages which make up this season’s round.

 

The action starts on Thursday morning with shakedown before a short evening stage. Friday will see the crews tackle just over 100 kilometres over seven stages, then Saturday has 112 kilometres over six stages and then the final day has just under 80 kilometres over four stages.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers.

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Takamoto Katsuta

“I enjoyed Rally Islas Canarias a lot last year and I’m really looking forward to being back. It’s very different to Croatia but it’s very nice to drive. At the same time, there is absolutely no room for error because everybody is driving absolutely on the limit, so a small mistake can cost you a lot, even if it’s only a few tenths or one second. It will be nice to be the first car on the road on Friday, even though it’s less of an advantage there because there is not much cutting, and the roads stay quite clean. I will try my best and maybe get some tips from my friend Kalle Rovanperä, who was very fast there last year.”

Elfyn Evans

“Even though the surface is similar, Rally Islas Canarias is a very different rally from Croatia. In Croatia, the roads were really polluted with gravel and dirt, whereas in the Canaries the stages are very clean and smooth, so the grip level is much higher. It’s the most racing-like rally that we have in the calendar and that requires something more like a racing car in terms of setup, running low and stiff. That makes it hard to carry much in the way of learning forward from Croatia, but we did have a test on Spanish roads this week to try and prepare as well as we can, and we’ll be aiming as high as we can for the rally.”

Oliver Solberg

“Rally Islas Canarias is a beautiful rally with great roads and an amazing atmosphere. This will be my first time doing it with a Rally1 car, but I’m really looking forward to it. Even if we didn’t get the overall result we should have done in Croatia, we had a fantastic feeling in the car and the speed was really good on the cleaner stages on the final day. We were also able to get more experience and feeling with the hard tyre, which will be the first choice for the hot and abrasive conditions in the Canaries. We know that we have the speed and performance, so I have a really good feeling going into this event.”

Sami Pajari

“I’m really looking forward to Rally Islas Canarias: it’s one of my favourite rallies. The character is totally different to Croatia, which is somewhere I would not have expected to do so well. Still, we managed to lead a lot of the rally and finish second there. On paper, I think the Canaries can suit us even better. I enjoyed the rally already last year: we had some good pace and, more generally, I think my performance on asphalt has been stronger when the roads are cleaner, even in Croatia. We have a lot of positives to take forward into the Canaries and I hope we can have an even better rally.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It was fun to do Rally Islas Canarias for the first-time last year and I’m looking forward to going back. It’s nice to have some circuit-style stages back on the calendar and reminds me a bit of the roads we used to drive in Catalunya. The road conditions remain pretty consistent and offer a more level playing field for everyone. You need to have a fast car which gives you confidence to drive on the limit, and we could work on that in our test on Spanish roads this week, which was a good chance to get back in the rhythm after a short break. Hopefully we can be in the fight for victory and go one better than our second-place last year.”

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)

“I did Rally Islas Canarias for the first-time last year and it was a really nice, pure asphalt rally. Even though we didn’t finish, we gathered good experience of the stages, and our times were improving during the rally. This will be the first rally in which we are registered to score WRC2 points, so we want to aim to have a strong result. We gained a lot of helpful knowledge in Croatia, especially on the cleaner stages on the final day, and I think Canaries can be a really good event for us.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

Rally Islas Canarias will be very different from the tarmac rallies we have had so far this year. We don’t expect any dirt on the road – it will be very clean, very high grip – and that means it will demand a big push in terms of both car and driver performance. Every second will be difficult to optimise, and the pacenotes will be a major challenge too; we really need to be perfect to get the maximum out of the car. The weather is another factor that can make this rally quite tricky. Being close to the sea can offer nice weather conditions, but up in the mountains the rain can roll in and bring heavy fog with it. That can make it feel like a completely different rally depending on whether you are at sea level or in the mountains. Our focus will be on optimising everything to deliver the best possible result.

Thierry Neuville

Rally Islas Canarias is probably the most straightforward tarmac event of the season in terms of road conditions – it’s the cleanest event, with the highest grip conditions of any tarmac rally we do. The roads have a very circuit-like character set in the middle of a beautiful landscape, but they are very demanding and technical when it comes to pace notes. That is one of the main challenges here: making good pace notes that you can trust, because the corners are so long. We have worked hard on the car, trying to make it more precise while also improving the balance. We don’t know yet what we will be able to achieve in terms of results, but if everyone gives their absolute best and we bring the car home, we can be satisfied. Of course we want to deliver a strong result for the team after last weekend, and we will push hard to make everyone proud again.

Dani Sordo

I am really excited to be back in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 car and especially looking forward to being in Canarias. My target is to have a good setup and fight for the victory or a podium — when I start a rally I always aim for the win, and being in Spain on tarmac makes that feel very achievable. I think we found a good setup and balance with the car at Rallye La Llana, and it was great to work in the Rally1 car with Cándido again. I think we are in a good place heading into the rally, and there is no substitute for the feeling you get in a Rally1 car. I don’t remember a great deal about Canarias, but it was a legendary rally from the Spanish Championship. I do remember is that finding a good feeling was difficult, because the island is quite complicated; you can have rain on one stage and completely dry conditions on the next.

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“Rally Islas Canarias is another great opportunity for us to keep building our Tarmac pace. It’s a very high-grip, fast and flowing rally, so it’s all about commitment and precision. We’ve made some solid steps recently, and the focus is on continuing that progress – getting comfortable early and putting together a clean, consistent weekend.”

Jon Armstrong

“I’m really looking forward to the Canaries – I’ve been there a few times with ERC and it’s always a big challenge. The roads are a lot more like a racetrack, and the traffic during recce can be quite hectic with all the tourism in the area, so just keeping everything in line is a challenge in itself. Managing tyre and brake temperatures will be crucial. We had a good Sunday session in Croatia where we tried some things with the set-up, and we’re looking forward to putting that into practice here – hopefully we can keep fighting up with the Hyundais and fight for a top-five result.”

Romet Jürgenson

“The Canaries is a naturally very enjoyable event, but to be fast there you need the car in a very good set-up window – otherwise you’re going to be well off the pace. The driving also needs to be smooth; you have to think about saving the tyres on the longer stages and keeping temperatures in check, so there are a lot of extra factors to consider. Last year our speed wasn’t where we wanted it to be – we’ve generally struggled a little more on these wide, smooth Tarmac roads – so the aim this year is to close that gap, follow the faster drivers, and get a lot closer to the top. That’s important for the future.”

Summary

Who could win this weekend? Well, it’s hard to see past the crews in the Toyota’s to be honest. Having said that it would make the championship really interesting if the crews from Hyundai or even M-Sport could take victory or stand on the podium this weekend.

 

Let’s see what happens!

Onto Saturday’s action then and once again the crews had eight stages with a slightly reduced quantity of 116 kilometres action. Oliver and Elliott plus Elfyn and Scott returned to the action and would be the first two crews into the stages.

 

First up then was SS9 Platak 1 and it was a stage win for Oliver who was fastest by over seven seconds from Elfyn, whilst rally leader and the final driver through the stage Sami was third fastest. Meanwhile Jon and Shane continued to show good pace with the fifth best time which was only 1.4 seconds behind Thierry and Martijn.

 

Onwards then to SS10 Ravna Gora – Skrad 1 and once again Oliver was fastest, this time from Takamoto with Elfyn third. Takamoto’s pace took him back into second overall which was positive. There was some drama for Josh and Eoin who suddenly had smoke coming into the main part of their car cabin. They stopped and Josh pulled out the fire extinguisher to deal with the smoke and flames in the car. They lost about four minutes dealing with this but did at least finish the stage.

Next up the third stage of the day, SS11 Generalski Stol – Zdihovo 1 and Oliver showed again his pace going fastest from Jon by just one tenth of a second and Elfyn was third. Takamoto lost second overall after only setting the ninth fastest time and Thierry who was fifth quickest passed the Japanese driver and moved into second overall, now fifteen seconds away from the leader who was Sami.

 

The final stage of the morning then, SS12 Pećurkovo Brdo – Mrežnički Novaki 1 before the tyre fitting zone and Oliver completed a clean sweep of stage wins from Takamoto and Elfyn, whilst Jon again showed good pace to set the fourth best time. Thierry maintained second overall now just a little over ten seconds behind Sami.

 

The afternoon stages began with SS13 Pećurkovo Brdo – Mrežnički Novaki 2 and because it was run so close to the previous run, there was no time for the crews safety teams to drive through and provide information and stage note updates to their drivers. There were punctures for Oliver and also Josh. Takamoto went fastest from Elfyn and Jon and the Japanese driver edged a little closer to Thierry, although the gap remained just over eight seconds.

 

Next up then was SS14 Generalski Stol – Zdihovo 2 and once again Oliver set the pace this time from Elfyn, whilst Thierry was third. There were some more crews that suffered punctures and this drama included the rally leaders Sami and Marko who had to stop to change a tyre. Also having the same problem was Hayden, Oliver, Josh and Takamoto. The result of all of this was Thierry now led the rally from Takamoto and Sami now was third. A huge shame for the young Finns who clearly showed his speed and consistency this weekend.

 

Two stages remained to be run on Saturday and first up was SS15 Ravna Gora – Skrad 2. Oliver was fastest from Elfyn and Jon with only just over two seconds separating the three of them. Thierry continued to lead the rally by over a minute from Takamoto with Sami a further thirty seconds back.

 

Onto the final stage then of the day, SS16 Platak 2 and Elfyn set the pace in this one by just under two seconds from Jon whilst Takamoto was third. Oliver’s run of fastest times came to an end as he suffered a puncture.

 

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers after Saturday’s stages.

Classification after Day Two

1 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 2:20:20.8 2 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:14.5 3 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:46.4 4 H. Paddon J. Kennard Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +3:28.2 5 Y. Rossel A. Dunand Lancia Ypsilon HF +5:14.1 6 L. Rossel G. Mercoiret Citroën C3 +6:17.3 7 R. Korhonen A. Viinikka Toyota GR Yaris +6:32.8 8 N. Gryazin K. Aleksandrov Lancia Ypsilon HF +6:45.8 9 A. Cachón B. Rozada Toyota GR Yaris +6:56.2 10 R. Daprà L. Guglielmetti Škoda Fabia RS +7:52.4

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“After a difficult run recently, I have been looking forward to just having a good feeling in the car for a while, but now being back on the pace and leading the rally is great. Being in the lead after all our collective efforts over the last year feels really special, and it’s important for the team that we bring home this victory. I think it will be difficult – we’ll be last on the road too and I don’t think we have enough pace to be fastest, especially on tomorrow’s stages. They should be cleaner, so we just need to secure first place and bring it home.”

Hayden Paddon

“It was an afternoon of survival out there today, particularly on SS14 where it was pretty hard to avoid punctures, as many people – including ourselves – found out. We’re in a position where we just have to bring the car home, but after seeing Adrien parked up, it certainly changed the situation a little bit. It was stressful to make sure we made no mistakes and didn’t pick up anymore punctures. We’re within the threshold of our team-mates which is what we wanted, and we’ve made improvements on our pace. That’s now a secondary goal as we want to bring these points home, and fingers crossed we can do that tomorrow.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“In the corner before our accident there was a small crest, and I didn’t see that the tarmac was disappearing and drove straight into the gravel. I couldn’t brake, so came out of the corner in the opposite way we wanted to. On the outside, there was a concrete pole, and we just clipped the wheel. It wasn’t too close, but it was enough for us to hit it, and we lost the rear wheel and damaged the bodywork. It’s been a big fight since yesterday as we focused on regaining ground we had lost, and it was working okay until then. Tomorrow we’ll try to get some Super Sunday and Power Stage points, like our other competitors that had to retire.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Takamoto Katsuta

“Today I was trying to push in sections where I felt confident and comfortable, and in others where there could be more surprises, I was backing off quite a bit because I didn’t want to take risks. I think we were managing it quite well, until the long stage on the second pass, when there were so many sharp rocks and stones on the road, so the puncture risk was high. It’s a pity because I was being patient and trying to avoid these things. Still, we are P2, so it could have been worse. We are still on for some good points, so tomorrow I just need to be clever.”

Sami Pajari

“It was all going really well again today. Everything felt quite comfortable and under control, so I’m pretty gutted about what happened. Clearly it was a really demanding stage and it was not only us who suffered. It was a slow puncture, so I saw the alarm before I really felt it, but we were so early in the stage that there was no option but to stop and change it. After that we just needed to reach the end of the day. It’s hard to find positives but at least we are still in a podium position and let’s see what we can fight for tomorrow.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been good to be back out there today, and we tried to learn what we could. The stages were very varied, and I think tomorrow’s stages will be very different again in character, so it hasn’t been easy to use today to prepare for tomorrow. There was so much cutting and a high risk of punctures today, whereas tomorrow should be a lot more clean. We’ll be trying to score as many points as we can and let’s see what’s possible.”

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been a positive day for us, getting back out on the stages and just trying to drive well and learn more on dry asphalt with this car and with the tyres. I did have a couple of slow punctures in the afternoon, but we won all the other stages, so it’s been a good day overall. I’m feeling confident about tomorrow: we will have the perfect starting position, and the speed today has been very good. The stages will be very fast and quite demanding, but let’s see how we do.”

 

Sunday

Onto the final day of the rally and the crews faced just over 57 kilometres over four stages to finish the event. Oliver would open the road and Adrien also returned to the action. Which crew would the fastest over these four stages and take the Sunday points?

 

Onto the action then with SS17 Bribir – Novi Vinodolski 1 and Oliver made the best start setting the fastest time from Elfyn with Adrien setting the third best time. Best of the M-Sport runners was Jon who was fourth fastest. Rally leaders Thierry and Martijn were eighth fastest and in a good position to take victory for the Hyundai team.

 

Next up was SS18 Alan – Senj 1 and Oliver was once again the pacesetter from Elfyn, just two seconds back from his Swedish teammate and Jon was third in the stage and seven tenths faster than Hayden. Thierry continued to hold the lead just ticking off the stages one at a time now with a lead of over a minute.

 

Onto the penultimate stage then, SS19 Bribir – Novi Vinodolski 2 and Oliver maintained his stage winning pace setting a time 2.1 seconds faster than Elfyn, with Jon third. The top overall positions remained the same with Thierry holding the lead by well over a minute from Takamoto, Sami still in third and Hayden in fourth.

 

The final stage then, SS20 Alan – Senj 2 and Oliver was once again the pacesetter from Elfyn, Jon, Sami and Takamoto. All eyes were on Thierry and Martijn though to take victory for the Hyundai squad. There was a sting though which was a big surprise for them as on a right-hander the car stepped out at the rear and although Thierry caught the slide, the car was off the line and then clipped a piece of road furniture slightly hidden in the grass verge with the front right-hand side, damaging the wheel and suspension. The car was down a side road adjacent to the main road and facing the wrong way. Once he got the car turned around and back onto the stage, but the possibility of victory had gone. He was told to retire the car by the team because of the huge damage and that was that sadly. All of this meant that Takamoto and Aaron took their second victory, Sami and Marko took second and Hayden and John took third place.

 

Let’s take a look at the final finishing positions and hear from the drivers.

Croatia Rally Final Classification

1 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 2:51:15.8 2 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +20.7 3 H. Paddon J. Kennard Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:07.7 4 Y. Rossel A. Dunand Lancia Ypsilon HF +5:19.9 5 L. Rossel G. Mercoiret Citroën C3 +5:58.7 6 N. Gryazin K. Aleksandrov Lancia Ypsilon HF +6:17.8 7 A. Cachón B. Rozada Toyota GR Yaris +6:42.8 8 R. Korhonen A. Viinikka Toyota GR Yaris +6:54.0 9 R. Daprà L. Guglielmetti Škoda Fabia RS +7:38.1 10 E. Lindholm G. Morales Škoda Fabia RS +9:20.5

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Takamoto Katsuta

“To win for the second rally in a row is quite amazing. It was a big surprise how it happened, and I felt sorry for Thierry and Martijn and the Hyundai team, because I know myself how painful these moments can be. Still, I need to be happy for my team and for Aaron, because I think we did quite a clever job this weekend. It was a crazy one right until the end with so many things happening. It’s nice to be leading the championship now, but I’m not going to think about it too much: I will just stay focused on myself and on doing the best that I can.”

Sami Pajari

“It’s always nice to finish on the podium and, after three third places, to now finish second for the first time is something I have to be happy about. I’m also happy to see Taka and Aaron take another win. Naturally, there is still some disappointment because we were in the lead of the rally for so long, but this just gives more hunger for the next rally, and I’m looking forward to that one. The last few rallies have been really positive and promising for us, and I hope that something even better is coming soon.”

Elfyn Evans

“It hasn’t been an ideal weekend for us after we got caught out on Friday morning. At least we were able to take some points today, but Oliver was quicker so we can’t be entirely satisfied with that. He drove well so well done to him, and to Taka and Sami for their one-two finish. For us it’s been a tough weekend, but sometimes these things happen, and we will focus on bouncing back stronger on the next event.”

Oliver Solberg

“It’s a bit of a bittersweet feeling at the end of the rally. After my mistake on Friday, the feeling in the car and the pace that we’ve had has been fantastic, and we took all the points that we could today. I’m sorry to the team that we couldn’t get the overall result to go with it, but we know that we have the performance. I just have to learn from what happened, look forward and take the positives from this rally into the next one.”

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)

“It was good to be back behind the wheel this weekend. It was a tricky rally, but I think we can be happy with the pace we had. On Friday we were trying different setups and tyres and trying to stay out of trouble, but we could be sixth in Rally2. Saturday also started really well but in SS11 the road was much dirtier than expected, and we were just caught out by some loose gravel and clipped a rock on the outside. Restarting on Sunday, we showed good pace again and it was also good learning for the cleaner style of stages we can expect on Rally Islas Canarias.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Hayden Paddon

“It’s definitely bittersweet for us. Firstly, I was gutted for the team and Thierry because I know how much work everyone has been putting in, and for that they really deserve the victory. It’s a surprise to be on the podium, it wasn’t ever our expectation. We stuck to our plan this weekend, and despite what I said at the start of the weekend, it was one of those rallies that you just had to survive. At this level you have to be on the limit so much, and when you’re on the limit that’s when mistakes happen – punctures and everything else we’ve seen this weekend. It’s hard to comprehend that we’re even back on a WRC podium eight and ten years later, but it’s been quite some journey.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“About two kilometres before the end of the Power Stage we got a puncture – it was right in the middle of the tyre, so I don’t know exactly what caused it. It was the outside wheel on a left-hand corner, so it was probably some loose rocks that we did not see, that’s it. We could have scored two extra points, but we didn’t. I’m very frustrated with what happened yesterday, that’s the main thing, and I’m very sorry to the team and for Thierry. Croatia is always a tricky one; the grip levels vary so much that it’s unpredictable, but I think that’s why it deserves to be in the championship.”

Thierry Neuville

“First of all, I would like to express my apologies to the whole team – everybody who works with me throughout the whole year. It’s a huge disappointment for Martijn and myself, we didn’t expect that but unfortunately the rally can strike even at the very last stage. We were driving according to plan, and our target was just to get through the stage, but unfortunately, we were surprised on that corner. I probably turned in a bit too early, and my first reaction was to open, and then the incident happened. It’s going to be a tough period for us, but we have no choice but to come back stronger and keep fighting. We won’t give up and our time will come again.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Jon Armstrong

“I’m really happy with the pace we showed this weekend. It’s been a strong and consistent performance, and it’s great to come away with P3 on the power stage and pick up some valuable extra points.

“We’re continuing to learn a lot about the car in these conditions, which will be important heading into Gran Canaria. There’s still more to come from us, but it’s a solid step forward and we’ll keep pushing to build on this momentum.”

Josh McErlean

“Croatia was a really demanding rally and, overall, it’s been quite a dramatic weekend for us. There are definitely positives to take though, our tarmac pace has improved and I’m starting to feel more comfortable and confident in the car on this surface. Of course, we still want to put a full clean rally together, but the speed is coming which is encouraging. Now the focus is on resetting, learning from this weekend, and carrying that progress into Canaries.”

Romet Jürgenson

“From a performance point of view, the rally was really decent, I have to say. Already on Friday we showed good speed with two stage wins, and on Saturday when everything clicked we were consistently inside the top three, fighting with the front guys.

It’s a shame about the punctures, obviously we would have liked to avoid them—but sometimes the luck just isn’t there, and this time it wasn’t. Overall, the season has been difficult in terms of fortune, but at least now we’ve shown that we belong at this level.

The car development has also brought us much closer to the top crews, and we’re clearly in that group now, which is really positive. Now we move on to the Canaries!”

Mille Johansson

“For us it didn’t start very well with two punctures on the first two stages. And with only one spare wheel we had to retire. Restarted again on Saturday and the feeling in the car got better for every stage in these challenging conditions. Sunday was a positive day comparing to the front runners where we got a lot closer on the times.”

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After Round Four

1	T. Katsuta	81
2	E. Evans	74
3	O. Solberg	68
4	S. Pajari	52
5	A. Foumaux	49
6	S. Ogier	26
7	T. Neuville	25
8	E. Lappi	21
9	Y. Rossel	18
10	L. Rossel	18

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After Round Four

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	208
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	131
3	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2	55
4	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	51

Summary

What a crazy rally this turned out to be. It had punctures, driver errors and a totally surprising end result.

 

For Takamoto and Aaron to take their second win is a remarkable result. They didn’t set any fastest times but kept out of trouble setting a good enough pace to be there when Sami and Thierry had their problems.

 

Sami and Marko were gutted when they had their tyre failure on Saturday, especially given that they’d led a rally for the first time overnight. However, they were there to take second overall and another podium as well.

 

The returning Hayden and John were another crew who kept themselves out of trouble. They took what they’d learnt in Monte-Carlo at the beginning of the year and delivered a well-deserved third place finish.

 

Okay, next up in the championship will be the Rally Islas Canaries held over the 23 to 26 of April.

The first day of action in Croatia would see the crews tackle almost 130 kilometres over eight stages. As championship leaders Elfyn and Scott would open the road whilst Oliver and Elliott would be next in.

 

The action would come straight away in SS1 Vodice – Brest 1 with Elfyn and Scott going fastest from Sami and Jon. There was drama for Oliver and Elliott who hit a bank on the side of the stage and spun across the road before ending up at an angle off the side of the road. They did try to get back onto the road with some spectators attempting to push the Yaris back. The car was completely beached though and they were out for the rest of the day.

 

Elfyn and Scott made it two out of two with a stage win in SS2 Lake Butoniga – Motovun 1 from Sami and Thierry this time. The Welshman had increased his lead over Sami to 15 seconds whilst Thierry moved into third overall. Meanwhile Jon and Adrien both had punctures in the stage and lost time finishing the stage. They were now in seventh and twentieth after their problems.

 

Next came SS3 Beram – Cerovlje 1 and it was a disaster for Elfyn and Scott who went off the road at around halfway through the stage. Sadly, they were out for the day and will now just as their teammates focus on Sunday’s stages and the points available on the final day. Thierry set the fastest time from Jon by just one tenth of a second and Takamoto was third. All of this meant that Sami was now leading the rally from Thierry, whilst Takamoto held third overall. Jon and Shane’s pace in the stage took them into fourth overall as well and the Irish crew were showing some pace.

 

The final morning stage saw Sami open up his lead as he set his first fastest stage time of the rally beating Takamoto and Adrien. Takamoto pace allowed him to move past Thierry and into second overall. Meanwhile we sadly lost Jon and Shane after they went wide and damaged the Puma on kerbs lining the edge of the road.

 

After the service break came the second run of SS5 Vodice – Brest 2. Sami was fastest by 1.8 seconds from Takamoto, with Thierry third fastest. Sami’s pace saw him increase his lead over his teammate to a little over ten seconds.

 

Next up was SS6 Lake Butoniga – Motovun 2 and the changes which the Hyundai team made to Thierry’s car appeared to be working as he set the fastest time by 2.9 seconds from Takamoto with the rally leader Sami third fastest. The Belgian’s pace took him ahead of Takamoto and into second overall, with a reduced gap of just a little over seven seconds to Sami.

 

Just two stages remained then, first up was SS7 Beram – Cerovlje 2 and Thierry once again was fastest from Sami whilst Takamoto was third. This meant two things as the Belgian moved away from Takamoto and a little closer to Sami as well. There was some drama for Josh who had been running in fifth overall, but sadly suffered a puncture losing eight positions and falling to thirteen overall.

Onto the final stage then SS8 Učka 2 and it was clear that Thierry’s car didn’t work as well as he set the third fastest time whilst teammates Sami and Takamoto were the pacesetters with the Finn leading the way. Takamoto edged really close to Thierry bringing the gap down to just nine tenths of a second.

 

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day One

1 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1:12:18.5 2 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +13.7 3 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +14.6 4 H. Paddon J. Kennard Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:15.0 5 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:54.6 6 Y. Rossel A. Dunand Lancia Ypsilon HF +2:45.9 7 N. Gryazin K. Aleksandrov Lancia Ypsilon HF +3:08.0 8 A. Cachón B. Rozada Toyota GR Yaris +3:27.9 9 L. Rossel G. Mercoiret Citroën C3 +3:35.1 10 R. Korhonen A. Viinikka Toyota GR Yaris +3:47.0

 

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sami Pajari

“It has been really tricky out there today and we could see already this morning that it was really easy to make a mistake. I wasn’t feeling completely comfortable to begin with this morning, but I think we could drive with quite a clever and consistent pace and that paid off for us. Then in the afternoon I felt like things were much more under control and I was able to enjoy it more, especially this last stage of the day. It’s a good feeling to be in the lead tonight but I know that there’s still a really long way to go. I’m sure that tomorrow will not be any easier and that it will be another challenging day.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“We saw a lot happening already in the morning loop, which was quite tough for the team. I was sorry to see Oliver and Elfyn off the road, and I knew then that it would be important for me to keep going. The stages were very tricky with a lot of grip changes, so it was easy to make a mistake. I wasn’t taking any risks, but I was quite happy with the feeling and the pace that we found, and I think we were managing things quite well. There’s still a long way to go and anything can happen tomorrow could be even more challenging with more mud on the road.”

Elfyn Evans

“We had a really good start this morning, with a good feeling in the car and good speed in the first two stages. Then, unfortunately, a bit of a disaster for us when we slid off the road on the third stage. We just got caught out; the corner was a bit tighter than expected and we came into it too fast. We’re very disappointed that we couldn’t use the potential we had and we’re very sorry for the team. The target now is to find good form ahead of Sunday and see what we can recover in terms of points.”

Oliver Solberg

“It was really disappointing what happened in the first stage this morning. It was my first time with this hard tyre on the car in rally conditions and I was maybe too optimistic considering that limited experience. I was just a bit too fast in this corner, misjudged the grip that I had, and ran wide and touched the wall. I’m very sorry for the team, but I will try to learn from this. We’ve had a good feeling with the car and tomorrow is a chance to learn some more and get ready to aim for points on Sunday.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“Today went better than expected. We were able to find something that we built on throughout the day to increase our speed. We’re not exactly where we want to be yet, but we were able to compensate for that with our driving and the tricky conditions, and that’s what kept us in the fight for a good result here this weekend. We will take the positives from today and build on them to stay in contention. The battle for the top three is nice, but I don’t think we quite have the upper hand yet. It’s been a long time since we were able to drive as fast as we have today, and we will carry on pushing hard on the stages we know tomorrow.”

Hayden Paddon

“The position we’re in at the moment is much better than we expected coming into Croatia. We weren’t taking massive risks, but we’ve seen what happened to those who did, so we just have to carry on like this. It was starting to feel a bit more natural after some setup changes this afternoon, and we were definitely heading in a better direction. In conditions like today’s, it’s all about having confidence in the car, and when you’re confident it’s easy. Bit by bit it’s coming back, so we have to keep this progress going. We’re on target for how far we wanted to be behind our team-mates, but tomorrow will be a harder day. Everyone’s pushing really hard, it’s now time for us to dig deeper.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“If we didn’t have the puncture we would have been in the fight more, so now it’s harder to find the balance between pushing to stay within reach or playing it safe. I’m trying to keep it clean and smooth, and listen to the pacenotes closely, but it was dirty everywhere today. We know that as a team tarmac is not our best surface, so for us to be in the position we are in now is a positive. I’m happy to see the performance we have against Toyota – we’ve definitely made a step forward. There is only one new stage tomorrow, but for me it’s the key point of the rally. It’s very demanding so if something happens, it will be on this stage.”

 

Saturday

The second day of action will see the crews tackle 116 kilometres over eight stages. There is an added dimension of trickiness as there is no mid-day service break either, the crews will just have a tyre fitting zone. Oliver and Elfyn will return to the action as well, hoping to prepare for Sunday’s stages and the points on offer.