Sebastien Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia in the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Yaris, en-route to victory in last weekend’s Rally Croatia. Picture: Toyota Gazoo Racing
Last weekend’s Rally Croatia produced another victory for Sebastien Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia in the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Yaris. This was the first time the WRC had travelled to the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe alongside the Adriatic Sea.
Twenty stages, covering 300 km of the 1 279 km total distance of the all tarmac rally, traversed varying surfaces from very smooth to narrow gravelled sections around the central service park in the city of Zagreb.
Friday saw Theirry Neuville winning the first two stages of the day’s eight special stages. He went on to win a third and his team mate Ott Tanak took a single stage for a Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT total of three. This was matched by Sebastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans of the Toyota Gazoo WRT with the Frenchman taking three and Evans one.
Overnight leader Neuville held a 7,7 second lead over Ogier with Evans third, Tanak fourth and Hyundai’s Craig Breen fifth. In sixth was the young French driver Adrien Fourmaux in his first full WRC drive in the M-Sport Ford Fiesta.
Thierry Neuville (Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT i20) led overall after day one. Picture: Hyundai.
Championship leader, the youngest ever in WRC history Kalle Rovanpera, was hoping to increase his points tally in the race for the Drivers’ title. However his efforts came to naught when on the first stage of the day he had a very big off and rolled down the side of the mountain. Thankfully both driver and co-driver came away unscathed, but damage to the Yaris’s roll cage meant he could not restart the race on Saturday.
Day two saw Neuville drop to third position after a wrong tyre choice in the morning’s four stages. This allowed Ogier and Evans to head the field. It was a clean sweep for the Toyota team as the reigning world champion took a further two stages, Evans one and Takamoto Katsuta one.
The afternoon action brought Neuville back into the fight as Ogier lost 10 seconds due to a right rear puncture. Both went on to win a stage and then shared a quickest time on stage 15.
The Frenchman commented. “I think we had a really good result today. Without the tyre issues, the gap would be a little bit more comfortable, but it is what it is.. We just have to keep driving the same way tomorrow and stay out of trouble. It’s going to be fascinating.”
Elfyn Evans (Toyota Gazoo Yaris WRT) finished the rally just six-tenths of a second behind the winner. Picture: Toyota Gazoo.
But the final day did not start well for Ogier when he was involved in a road accident on route to the first stage. There was fortunately no injury to occupants of the vehicles, but the Toyota team needed to carry out some repairs to the car’s aerodynamics and wait for clearance from the FIA and local authorities.
Evans was on top form and pushed hard on the final day’s four stages. He capitalised on his team mate’s aero problems and started the final stage, the Wolf Power Stage with a 3.9 second advantage.
Split times during the stage showed Ogier closing the gap, and when Evans slid wide on a grass verge, the Frenchman grabbed the opportunity and crossed the line just 0.6 seconds ahead of the Welshman for his 51st career victory and a Toyota one-two.
The next round of the championship is the Vodafone Rally de Portugal between the 20th and 23rd of May.
