The fourth round of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship, Rally Croatia, took place from 17th-21st April. Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans engaged in an intense battle throughout the opening day, with both drivers finishing the 120km racing section with the exact same time down to the tenth of a second.
Neuville started the day strong, winning three out of the four morning loop stages and establishing an 8.6 second lead over Evans, who managed to win the stage that his rival didn’t. The competition was so fierce that they left third-placed Ogier over 21 seconds behind when they returned for the midday service. The muddy conditions and occasional snow flurries made the grip levels unpredictable, causing Ogier to struggle due to dirt being dragged onto the road. Despite encountering a slow puncture in SS1 and getting caught in a rain shower in SS5, Ogier’s strong performance in SS8 brought him back into contention.
After the break, Neuville continued to extend his lead over Evans, reaching a gap of 10.1 seconds. However, in stage six, Evans managed to take the lead by a mere 0.1 seconds after Neuville suffered a puncture. Neuville explained, “There was a stone in the road. I tried to avoid it but it must have been close because it immediately punctured the tyre. Was about 2km from the end. The stage was ok, after the puncture I was just trying to survive.” Ogier, trailing behind by 18 seconds, made a comeback by winning the last two stages of the day, leaving a manageable gap of 6.6 seconds.
Tänak had a less remarkable performance, finishing in fourth place and lacking confidence in the handling of his i20 N. He expressed his frustration, saying, “At some points we were really frustrated, and our morning was going really downhill. The first loop was quite a struggle; I was fighting with the car while trying to set better times and that caused me to have some moments. Only this afternoon did things come together a bit more and become more consistent in the car. We still didn’t have too much confidence to be committed, but tomorrow we will get back in the car for another show.”
Adrien Fourmaux showed promise by setting the second fastest time on the final stage, putting him in striking distance in his M-Sport Ford Puma. Takamoto Katsuta, on the other hand, struggled to match the speed of the front-runners and couldn’t keep up with the pace.
In the WRC2 category, Citroën drivers Yohan Rossel and Nikolay Gryazin dominated the field, establishing a commanding lead of over two minutes. Gryazin, in his second FIA World Rally Championship start with a Citroën C3 Rally2, set the tone early by outpacing his teammate Rossel by 10.8 seconds on the opening test. He continued to dominate, winning seven stages on Friday, while Rossel managed to win one stage and finished 31.1 seconds behind Gryazin.
Pepe López, who finished as the runner-up in Rallye Monte-Carlo, made his Croatian debut and secured the third spot on the podium comfortably in his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2. Despite his limited knowledge of the broken asphalt stages, López finished the first day with a 20.1-second lead over Nicolas Ciamin, who had a back-and-forth battle with fifth-placed Lauri Joona.