The strongest start to Sunday’s sprint was made by Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, who set the fastest time on the Trakošćan – Vrbno 1 special stage. Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux was 1.8 seconds slower than the Japanese driver’s best time.
Meanwhile, Katsuta’s team-mate Elfyn Evans maintained the fastest pace among the top three overall, simultaneously narrowing the gap to Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who currently holds the largest provisional WRC points haul.
“We have different tyre choices, this one will be really dirty on the second pass. For the next one I think we have better tyres,” Neuville pondered.
If the battle was incredibly tight yesterday on Saturday, the early morning of Sunday already saw some larger gaps forming.
Neuville was only the fifth fastest on the morning’s first stage, losing 5.1 seconds to Katsuta’s leading time.
Toyota’s French champion Sebastien Ogier clearly woke up on the wrong side and was not really in the mood to talk. Ogier posted the same time as Neuville, finishing sixth on the morning’s first stage.
“(The stage is) getting very dirty like we expected, not the ideal stage for us. Not the perfect feeling,” Ogier summed up.
Adrien Fourmaux promised an attack for Sunday and kept his promise.
“The points we had to take was yesterday, now we’re only focussed on Super Sunday. We’ll see if the others lose time. I had a good stage,” Fourmaux said.
Neuville continues to lead the overall standings, with Evans 2.6 seconds behind. Ogier is third overall, 11.6 seconds from the leader. Hyundai’s Ott Tänak continues in fourth place, and Fourmaux is fifth. As for Super Sunday, Tänak is also currently fourth.
Toyota’s Sami Pajari continues to hold the 11th place in the overall standings and third in the Rally2 car. Super Sunday, however, started brilliantly for the Finn, as he was the second fastest on the first stage, just after Nikolay Gryazin.
Three more special stages will take place in the Croatia Rally on Sunday. The event will conclude with the Power Stage starting at 13:15 (CET).
Standings after SS17/20 of the Croatia Rally:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | 2:16:47.0 |
| 2. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +2.6 |
| 3. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +11.6 |
| 4. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | +1:15.4 |
| 5. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | +1:32.1 |
| 6. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +2:09.1 |
| 7. | Andreas Mikkelsen | Hyundai | +4:01.8 |
| 8. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +4:57.4 |
| 9. | Nikolay Gryazin | Citroen | +8:09.2 |
| 10. | Yohan Rossel | Citroen | +8:49.8 |
| 11. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +9:15.2 |
| 12. | Gus Greensmith | Skoda | +9:30.1 |
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
