The final day then and with 54.78km’s over four stages would we see a straightforward drive to the finish, or perhaps we would have some drama instead!? Gregoire would open the road throughout the day.

First up was SS17 Trakošćan – Vrbno 1 – 13.15 km and Takamoto started really well, winning the stage from Adrien and Elfyn. Thierry was fifth fastest and this meant that Elfyn had closed the gap to the Belgian to just 2.6 seconds. It was game on for the win. In WRC2, the top three remained Nikolay, Yohan and Pepe both in the stage and on course for the WRC2 podium.

The following stage, SS18 Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec 1 – 14.24 km, though had huge drama though and being the first run of what would be the power stage this would be significant! First of all, Adrien clipped a anti-cut device and broke his steering arm. He drove across the bridge and pulled off at the side of the road. Once the steering arm was replaced he completed the stage. There was fifteen minutes lost which is quite amazing really. Then Elfyn also had a spin, collecting a tree branch on the way and lost 19.6 seconds. Then Thierry came through and also went off the road, quite badly damaging his car. He lost 23.3 seconds and fell to third behind Seb and Elfyn. Ott won the stage though from Takamoto and Seb. In WRC2 Yohan was fastest from Nikolay and Nicolas.

Time then for the penultimate stage and Takamoto was fastest from Elfyn and Ott. Seemed the drama was not over as Seb understeered off the road and went up a bank. The Frenchman completed the stage with the fourth fastest time, his lead now from Elfyn just 6.4 seconds.

Onto the final stage then SS20 Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec 2[Power Stage] – 14.24 km and Adrien was super committed through the stage and his time was not overcome. The closest driver was Ott, who was 3.8 behind the Frenchman, Seb was third fastest, Takamoto fourth and Elfyn fifth.

Seb had won the rally from Elfyn and Thierry was third. In WRC2, Nikolay won the category from Yohan and Pepe.

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

Final Overall Classification – Croatia Rally

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I’m very happy to take this victory. It’s been a tough weekend: we knew that coming here with our start position, but we pushed the whole weekend, we never gave up, and put the pressure on as much as we could. I think I never had so many moments in one rally, pushing the limits like this, but most importantly we brought it home with a win. One hundred podiums is a nice number and it’s great to reach it with a victory. I enjoy every opportunity I have to drive these cars and it’s nice to see we still have some speed. I’m super happy for the team, even if we can’t make so much difference in the points. It’s been a great team performance and let’s keep pushing like this.”

Elfyn Evans

“There’s a feeling of disappointment today. It started off pretty well in the first stage this morning, but we were too optimistic with our tyre choice and with the hard tyre it was a struggle in the second stage: this corner was quite full of mud and the rear came around. You’ve got to be in it to win it and it didn’t work out today. Still, the weekend was generally pretty good with a big fight the whole way through and second place at the end. It’s a great team result and nice to battle with Seb. It doesn’t feel like the team has been fully rewarded for that one-two in terms of points, but that’s how it is.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s been a good weekend for me as I was gaining more and more confidence throughout. Already on Saturday, some stages felt good, and I just tried to continue in the same way and I had an even better feeling in the car. I was a bit disappointed with the Power Stage where I was a bit too careful, but everything else went well today. We were fastest on Super Sunday and scored some good points for the team, which makes me very happy, and it was a good result for the team overall. Next time I want to be better from the start of the rally and then the result can be much better, but it’s been a good weekend overall.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“While we didn’t finish how we would have wanted; we have been well rewarded for our great drive on Friday and Saturday. Those are important points and despite not scoring many today, we were still the third-best performers – equal with Elfyn – and we only lost one point to Ott. SS18 was really tricky, and I tried my best to avoid an impact immediately hitting the brakes but there was nothing I could do. I am happy to still be in the lead and to retain the advantage, however Portugal is going to be tough for us from our road position.”

Ott Tänak

“It’s incredible to finish as the second highest-scoring crew. Our weekend was tough once again; we started from a very bad place, and I gave away some time in the beginning. We recovered a bit on Friday afternoon, and then on Saturday we tried to experiment a bit ahead of today to try and help us maximise our road position, which was also tricky. We were always just a bit too far behind to get enough dirty road, so it was a constant challenge, but we managed to collect some good points. I’m hoping to have a better feeling on gravel from Portugal and be more competitive, as the target will be to start taking back some points.”

Andreas Mikkelsen

“I was expecting to be a bit closer to the front during this event, even though I knew I was going to struggle here. I haven’t done the rally in the last few years, so it was a struggle, especially as there is so much pace note information to take on. When I don’t know the stage by heart, it is hard to have the commitment you need to fight at the front, and the speed here is very high. I was missing confidence in the driving, but we were going in the right direction, but I was hoping for more.”

M-Sport Ford WRT

Grégoire Munster

“I’m just happy we had a trouble-free event! This can now launch our season, which didn’t start exactly how we wanted. It was a very demanding event, with difficult stages where you need full commitment. So, to finish the rally, we are really happy, and with the improvement in the gaps to the other crews from 1.5s/km on Friday to around 0.5s/km at the end of the weekend, it’s all heading in a good direction.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“It’s been a good weekend for us. We’ve been fighting with Ott for the first two days, we were missing a bit of performance sometimes, and were trying things with the set-up. But we found something really good on Friday’s last stages. Then the rain was supposed to come so we had to change things, we had to make a guess based on the conditions, but once we went back to the set-up we had on Friday the car felt really good.

“We’ve been able to push a lot. We made one mistake, a small mistake with big consequences, which is a shame. But it’s like that, you have to be perfect everywhere here. We stayed on the road, but we hit a concrete pole [on SS18] so we just decided to fix it and push really hard on the Power Stage to score the points. We got the maximum points, which is great, my first Power Stage win, and this is really positive.”

William Creighton (WRC2)

“Overall, a tricky weekend with some drama on Friday night and today, but I guess that’s rally Croatia. The positive is that we showed good pace at points throughout the weekend and whilst we still have a lot of work to do, it’s promising with not so much experience in the Fiesta Rally2. A big thanks to everyone at M-Sport for looking after Liam and myself during a busy few weeks, and of course the support from the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy who have supported me all the way.”

Summary

Well, what an astonishing rally! Seb and Vincent came through the drama of the final day to take victory. His teammate came in second place and with Thierry third and the Belgian was not allowed to increase his championship lead over Elfyn.

2024 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 4

2024 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 4

The championship moves onto Portugal next month to be held from the 9^th to the 12^th of May.

The second day of this event and the crews had 108km’s over eight stages to tackle. The start list would be reversed with Thierry last into the stages throughout the day. Opening the road would be Gregoire Munster. Of course, Thierry and Elfyn would start the day on the same overall time after Friday’s stages.

First up was SS9 Smerovišće – Grdanjci 1 – 15.72 km and Adrien took his position as starting fourth on the road to win the stage from Thierry and Seb. Elfyn was fifth fastest and just eight tenths of a second from Thierry. In WRC2 Yohan was fastest from Nikolay and Pepe, the trio picking up where they left off at the end on Friday.

Onto SS10 Stojdraga – Gornja Vas 1 – 20.77 km and it was the turn of Seb to go fastest from Thierry and Elfyn who had set the same time, just three tenths behind the eight-time champion. The gap between the top two remained the same of course. There was a moment for Ott in the stage when he went wide, although at the time he went fastest before ultimately taking fifth fastest in the stage. In WRC2 Yohan was fastest, taking 7.1 seconds from Nikolay’s lead, whilst Eyvind was third. The Norwegian was having a good rally after two years away.

Next up was SS11 Vinski Vrh – Duga Resa 1 – 8.78 km and Thierry returned to the top of the stage times, winning the stage from Elfyn and Seb, the gap was now 1.7 seconds between the top two. Yohan took another WRC2 category stage win from Nikolay and Nicolas was third in the category.

The final stage before service and lunch, SS12 Pećurkovo Brdo – Mrežnički Novaki 1 – 9.11 km and Thierry was fastest from Seb and Ott. Meanwhile Elfyn found the stage very slippery and set the same time as Ott, three seconds behind Thierry’s stage winning time. The gap was now 4.1 seconds between the top two. There was some drama for Yohan in WRC2 as he suffered a puncture and lost 38.7 seconds to Nikolay. The Frenchman remained second in the category with a minute and 21 second lead over Pepe.

After the break the rain had arrived in places on SS13 Smerovišće – Grdanjci 2 – 15.72 km and Elfyn was fastest from Seb and Thierry. The Welshman took four soft tyres, and this gave him an advantage through the stage which was wet in places over the mix tyred Hyundai of Thierry. The Belgian was 6.7 seconds slower than Elfyn and fell from the lead, now two seconds from new leader Elfyn. Yohan returned to the top spot in WRC2 with the fastest time from Pepe and Nicolas. Nikolay continued to lead but after being almost 21 seconds slower than his French teammate, had a reduced lead of 39.1 seconds.

Next up was SS14 Stojdraga – Gornja Vas 2 – 20.77 km and Thierry was fastest again from Seb and Elfyn. This pace took Thierry back into the lead by 2.3 seconds as the tyre strategy by the Hyundai team gave them the advantage over the Toyota team’s. In WRC2 there was no change in the top three as Nikolay continued to lead the category from Yohan and Pepe was still third.

Just two stages remained then to decide the Saturday points for the top ten positions and first up was SS15 Vinski Vrh – Duga Resa 2 – 8.78 km. Thierry was fastest again from Seb and Elfyn and now the lead over the Welshman was four seconds. There was still no change in WRC2 as Nikolay remained in the lead from Yohan and Pepe.

The final stage then of the day, SS16 Pećurkovo Brdo – Mrežnički Novaki 2 – 9.11 km and Thierry was again from Seb and Elfyn, with the gap widening to 4.9 seconds at the end of Saturday’s stages. Quite amazing.

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

Classification after Day Two

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“This afternoon was trickier due to very challenging weather. We feared that we made the wrong choice, but the rain didn’t continue, and we were able to set good times by mixing the tyre choice based on the stages we were tackling. It’s not easy to know what is the best mix, but I followed my gut feeling. Even if you know the stages here well, they are still really difficult. They are challenging and narrow, with lots of crests and blind corners. Anything can happen on tomorrow’s final run, so we need to keep focused. We want to bring home the victory, but more importantly some extra points.”

Ott Tänak

“I felt definitely less comfortable in the car this afternoon and we couldn’t find any good rhythm to finish the day. I think to maximise our potential tomorrow we will try to go back to where we were yesterday afternoon – something we know was working a lot better for us. If we start from there, we will then need to work hard tomorrow to bring back as many points as possible from Super Sunday and the Power Stage.”

Andreas Mikkelsen

“I think we are taking small steps; we would like to be making bigger ones, of course, but we are still learning. For sure there’s the potential for more, but I’m still having some moments in the car. I think we are at a point where the car now is working fairly well for me, and it is more the features and my familiarity of the stages that I’m missing. I haven’t done this rally since 2021 and many stages are new, so where the other crews are fine-tuning their pace notes to be absolutely perfect, I am still digesting so much information.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a good day and good fun behind the wheel. The margins have been very tight here and we just couldn’t quite match Thierry, who was very fast all day. We had a good start to the afternoon to take the lead – we had the right tyre choice for that stage especially. After that, I think it’s hard to say what the best choice was, as the feeling was pretty good in the car. We just unfortunately fell short at the end of the day. There will be another difficult tyre choice to make to cover the whole final day, but we’ll try to make good decisions and give it our best.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Overall, it’s been a good day for me in the car. Everyone was expecting rain today and we made some changes to the car anticipating that, and I didn’t quite feel as comfortable as yesterday. We had a few drops of rain to start the afternoon and we had a tyre choice that suited these conditions, so we managed to get back a little bit of time. Unfortunately, it kind of balanced out over the rest of the loop. Still, it’s been a positive day, we were just missing something to make the difference in this close fight. It’s not over yet, and we will keep pushing until the end – also to help the team score the maximum points.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“For sure, today was much better than yesterday, so I’m feeling happier tonight. I felt good in the car and it’s getting better and better all the time. I was more competitive in some stages and just missing a bit of commitment in others. It’s easier to see now where I’m losing time compared to the top three and why, but I wasn’t taking huge risks. I think the team did a very good job with the tyre choices because it was difficult to get it right for every stage. Tomorrow I’ll try to push myself and to take some extra points for myself and the team.”

Sunday

We have 54.78km’s to decide this rally’s final standings and the points to be awarded for the top seven positions at the end of Sunday’s stages.