The Finn Kalle Rovanpera (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) won Rally Croatia, the third round of the World Rally Championship, after a very intense duel with the Estonian Ott Tanak (Hyundai i20 N Rally1), which had taken the lead of the event just before the last special, the Power Stage.
Thierry Neuville (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) finished third despite a big scare and going off the road in the last kilometres.
Ott Tanak, author of a winning tire choice this morning by betting on the onset of rain, recovered… 29.8 seconds from Kalle Rovanpera, leader since the start, in the penultimate special of the rally and counted 1.4 seconds ahead of the Finn before the Power Stage.
But in this final special, the young Finnish prodigy has put the gas and edged its Estonian rival by 5.7 seconds to win its second consecutive rally (after Sweden two months ago) by 4.3 seconds.
After signing the upgraded scratch in SS18, Thierry Neuville took third place and took advantage of his choice of tires (mix of hard and soft) to widen a huge gap on his pursuers in SS19 .
But in the Power Stage, TN made a mistake… and almost rolled over, but he was able to start again and reach the finish. Despite the time lost, the Belgian driver was able to climb on the third step of the podium of this Rally Croatia, 2:21.0 behind the winner.
The Irishman Craig Breen (Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1) finished in fourth place at 3:07.3, the Welshman Elfyn Evans (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1), at 3:46.0, completed the Top 5 of this event which will go down in WRC history…
In the World Championship standings, Kalle Rovanpera is full of points thanks to his victory in the Power Stage (30) and now has 76. Thierry Neuville retains second place, but 29 lengths behind the Finn (47). Craig Breen is third (30 points), ahead of Sebastien Loeb and Ott Tanak (27 points).
The next round of this exciting WRC season will be in Portugal from May 19-22. Title contenders will receive the company of both oldSebastien Loeb (Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1) and Sebastien Ogier (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1), to spice up the debates even more!