Big winner at Rally Croatia was the Sebastien Ozier. The eight-time Toyota World Drivers’ Champion completed his effort in 2hrs 40mins 23.6secs to top the podium, becoming only the fourth different winner in as many races in 2024.
The French left his British “mate” in second place, Elphin Evans (+9.7 seconds), while the trio of the podium was completed by the Belgian Thierry Neuville with Hyundai (+45.8 seconds), who had won the first Rally of the year, in Monte Carlo.
Ozier was favored by the fact that today Neuville and Evans went off the road in the 18th stage. Nouville had a 2.6-second lead over Evans before today’s second stage, but both lost time on their exits, leaving Ozier to lead the general classification. That saw the Frenchman, who was 11.6 seconds behind Neuville, take a 9.1-second lead over Evans two stages before the end of the race, which he held until the end.
Fourth was Ot Tanak, while the top five was completed by Takamoto Katsuta. The Andreas Mikkelsen and Gregoire Minster they finished sixth and seventh, respectively, while – participants in the WRC2 class – Nikolai Griazin, Yoan Rochelle and Sami Pagliari “closed” the top ten.
With the “1-2” Toyota increased its lead over Hyundai to seven points in the constructors’ standings (176 to 169), while M-Sport Ford has 96 points. Meanwhile, Neville’s 18 points in the lead after the conclusion of Saturday’s leg helped the Belgian maintain his lead in the drivers’ standings and he is +6 clear of Evans after four races. Neville has 86 points, followed by Evans (80), Furmo (59), Tanak (53), Ozier (45) and Katsuta (45).
The WRC’s next race is Rally Portugal, which is scheduled for May 9-12.
The top ten in Rally Croatia and the driver and manufacturer standings are as follows:
1. Sebastien Ozier (France/Toyota) 2 hours 40:23.6
2. Elfin Evans (UK/Toyota) + 9.7
3. Thierry Neville (Belgium/Hyundai) + 45.8
4. Ot Tanak (Estonia/Hyundai) + 58.6
5. Takamoto Katsuta (Japan/Toyota) + 1:55.5
6. Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway/Hyundai) + 4:01.0
7. Gregoire Munster (Luxembourg/Ford) + 5:11.0
8. Nikolai Griazin (Bulgaria/Citroen) + 9:21.3 –Class WRC2–
9. Yoan Rochelle (France/Citroen) + 9:59.5 –WRC2 Class–
10. Sami Payari (Finland/Toyota) + 10:22.7 –WRC2 Class–
Source: Sport Fm
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