Saturday morning already provided a spectacular second-by-second fight, which continued right into the first stage of the afternoon.
Rain was forecast for the afternoon, and it indeed arrived towards the end of the stage, affecting most notably the rally leader going into the afternoon, Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who had to relinquish his lead.
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans rose to the top, beating his teammate Sebastien Ogier by one second and Neuville by 6.7 seconds.
Evans now leads the rally by a margin of two seconds ahead of Neuville. Ogier is in third place, trailing by 7.6 seconds. Neuville’s tire choice did not work as well as it did for Evans and Ogier.
“Obviously they’re on different tyres, I pushed very hard and tried to carry on, I knew we were losing time but we limited the time loss,” Neuville lamented.
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak, in fourth place, managed to maintain his position. Tänak had two hard tires at the front, and the hard tires have not worked well.
“It started to really rain, I had hards on the front and they heated up, I had a moment where I just lost it,” Tänak recounted.
M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux continues in fifth place. The Frenchman has been performing consistently well. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta remains in sixth place.
In the WRC2 class, drama unfolded as Estonia’s Georg Linnamäe experienced misfortune. He went off the road, and his car was left by the roadside. Toyota’s Sami Pajari continues in 12th place overall and third in the Rally2 class.
Three more special stages will be run in the Croatia Rally on Saturday. The competition concludes on Sunday.
Standings at the Croatia Rally after SS13/20:
| POS | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | 1:47:56.1 |
| 2. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +2.0 |
| 3. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +7.6 |
| 4. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | +1:02.4 |
| 5. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | +1:17.2 |
| 6. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +1:59.6 |
| 7. | Andreas Mikkelsen | Hyundai | +3:22.2 |
| 8. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +4:10.5 |
| 9. | Nikolay Gryazin | Citroen | +6:19.5 |
| 10. | Yohan Rossel | Citroen | +6:58.6 |
| 11. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +7:21.2 |
| 12. | Gus Greensmith | Skoda | +7:39.7 |
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
