When it seemed that the Rally of Croatia could do a 180 degree turn, the leader of the event and of the general classification of the WRC has been able to stop the momentum of his rival and hit the table at the wheel of his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. With a salvage scratch on SS16, Kalle Rovanperä has stopped Ott Tänak’s attacks in their tracks in a somewhat atypical evening loop due to the cancellation of SS15 due to fog. Nice duel between Craig Breen and Thierry Neuville for the last step of the podium in the absence of four sections.
Rally Croatia reset after Rovanperä puncture, the evening loop started with a SS13 in which the fight for victory was compressed even more. Esapekka Lappi’s scratch almost went unnoticed before the push of Ott Tänak. The Estonian driver took all the ‘juice’ out of his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 to trim another 3.8 seconds to the leader. In a very similar dynamic in his direct duel with Craig Breen, the Belgian Thierry Neuville, despite suffering a loss of power, endorsed the M-Sport driver by fifteen seconds.
Repeated scratch Esapekka Lappi in SS14. All in all, the best news for Toyota was the step forward taken by Kalle Rovanperä. The Finn caught his breath after beating Ott Tänak by 1.9 seconds, a result that also had a double value due to the cancellation of SS15. The dense fog present in the first pass through ‘Platak’ became even more intense and prevented the section from being played safely. For this reason, the special was canceled and SS16 was left as the only stage to be contested.
Spurred on by this fact and taking advantage of tire management, Kalle Rovanperä hit the table with his scratch in SS16, section in which he surpassed Ott Tänak by 5.1 seconds. A severe setback for Hyundai’s aspirations, although the South Korean firm could at least see with satisfaction how Thierry Neuville managed to cut a little more his distance with Craig Breen. The battle for third position seems to be the main focus of interest ahead of the last day of the rally.
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In the absence of the four stages of Sunday’s stage, Kalle Rovanperä is 19.9 seconds ahead of Ott Tänak, while Craig Breen barely remains in third position. The M-Sport driver closes the day with a 4.9sec lead over Thierry Neuville, so he will have to make the most of his Ford Puma Rally1 if he wants to retain the podium. In crops of nobody, Elfyn Evans occupies the fifth position, while Takamoto Katsuta is sixthalthough the Japanese has had a puncture that has weighed him down even more.
Yohan Rossel leads the WRC2 category and the contingent of ‘Rally2’ cars that are in the absolute ‘top 10’ of the rally. The Frenchman is 35.1 seconds ahead of Nikolay Gryazin, with Kajetan Kajetanowicz completing the provisional World Rally Championship silver category podium. For his part, Emil Lindholm is in charge of closing the first ten positions, while Sami Pajari and Robert Virves maintain their close fight for the leadership of the WRC3 Junior.
Classification after SS16 of the 2nd Rally of Croatia
Rally Croatia ends this Sunday (07:08 a.m.) with the dispute of the last four legs of the event. Pilots and co-pilots will dispute 54.48 kilometers against the clock.
Photos: Toyota Gazoo Racing / Hyundai Motorsport