Neuville floored it on the short 12th special stage, ultimately setting the fastest time with a 2.9-second margin over Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier.
“We had a decent stage,” Neuville beamed.
“We had a better tyre management of the loop and kept good profiles of the tyres,” the Hyundai star added.
Neuville now holds a 4.7-second lead in the overall standings over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans. The Welshman was 3.0 seconds slower than Neuville’s fastest time.
“Really slippy. Wasn’t happy with my run, killing the speed a little bit. No mistakes,” Evans said.
Ogier, who is third in the competition, had one wet-weather tyre on his car, but despite this, the Frenchman managed to post a respectable time on the dry tarmac. Ogier remains in the fight for victory, 11.3 seconds behind Neuville.
“I had another tyre that was losing tread as usual, didn’t want to take the risk for a puncture. Didn’t cost us much, we’re here,” Ogier explained.
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak posted a time exactly the same as Evans on the last stage of the morning loop. Tänak continues in fourth place, 52 seconds off the lead. M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux is behind the Estonian in fifth place.
In the WRC2 class, Yohan Rossel suffered a tyre puncture, which caused Nikolay Gryazin’s lead to stretch to a minute. Sami Pajari moved up to third, ahead of Gus Greensmith, who also suffered a tyre puncture.
Four more special stages will be run on Saturday afternoon following the service break at the Croatia Rally. The event concludes on Sunday.
Standings at the Croatia Rally after SS12/20:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | 1:37:23.7 |
| 2. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +4.7 |
| 3. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +11.3 |
| 4. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | +52.2 |
| 5. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | +1:06.4 |
| 6. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +1:56.5 |
| 7. | Andreas Mikkelsen | Hyundai | +3:14.0 |
| 8. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +3:58.0 |
| 9. | Nikolay Gryazin | Citroen | +5:37.2 |
| 10. | Yohan Rossel | Citroen | +6:37.1 |
| 11. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +6:42.3 |
| 12. | Gus Greensmith | Skoda | +7:02.8 |
Croatia Rally itinerary (CET):
Thursday, April 18 09:01 Shakedown: Okić (3.65 km) Friday, April 19 08:28 SS1: Krašić - Sošice 1 (23.63 km) 09:41 SS2: Jaškovo - Mali Modruš Potok 1 (9.48 km) 10:39 SS3: Ravna Gora - Skrad 1 (10.13 km) 11:47 SS4: Platak 1 (16.63 km) 14:02 Tyre fitting zone (15 min) 14:45 SS5: Platak 2 (16.63 km) 15:58 SS6: Ravna Gora - Skrad 2 (10.13 km) 17:16 SS7: Jaškovo - Mali Modruš Potok 2 (9.48 km) 18:09 SS8: Krašić - Sošice 2 (23.63 km) Saturday, April 20 07:31 SS9: Smerovišće - Grdanjci 1 (15.72 km) 08:24 SS10: Stojdraga - Gornja Vas 1 (20.77 km) 10:05 SS11: Vinski Vrh - Duga Resa 1 (8.78 km) 11:03 SS12: Pećurkovo Brdo - Mrežnički Novaki 1 (9.11 km) 13:03 Service (40 min) 14:31 SS13: Smerovišće - Grdanjci 2 (15.72 km) 15:24 SS14: Stojdraga - Gornja Vas 2 (20.77 km) 17:05 SS15: Vinski Vrh - Duga Resa 2 (8.78 km) 18:03 SS16: Pećurkovo Brdo - Mrežnički Novaki 2 (9.11 km) Sunday, April 21 07:08 SS17: Trakošćan - Vrbno 1 (13.15 km) 08:35 SS18: Zagorska Sela - Kumrovec 1 (14.24 km) 10:23 SS19: Trakošćan - Vrbno 2 (13.15 km) 13:15 SS20: Zagorska Sela - Kumrovec 2 (14.24 km) *Power Stage
