Croatia Rally – Elfyn Evans takes advantage of Thierry Neuville's accident to take the lead

Ranking Rally from Croatia after SS12:

• The 2023 Croatia Rally changed in the middle of the 11th special this Saturday morning. Authoritarian leader since the 2nd special on Friday, Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) made a mistake in a corner at medium speed. Two shocks damaged the car to such an extent that it cannot be driven again today. A huge blow for the Belgian who seemed headed towards victory!

• Ce crash a rebattu les cartes. Dans l’ombre du Belge, Elfyn Evans (Toyota) s’exprime désormais pleinement en tête du Rallye de Croatie. Le Gallois, menacé par Ott Tänak (M-Sport Ford) en tout début de deuxième étape, a pris un bon rythme de croisière pour rejeter le champion du monde 2019 à plus de 20 secondes à la pause déjeuner.
• Si la 3e position est fermement tenue par un Esapekka Lappi (Hyundai) solitaire, la bataille pour les places d’honneur fait rage. Seulement 6 secondes séparent les pilotes entre la 4e et la 7e place !
• Penalized by one minute for not having correctly put his safety harness back on in SS2, Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) is trying to catch up. The Frenchman won a special stage and put pressure on his compatriot Pierre-Louis Loubet (M-Sport Ford), 4th without any driving error on his part.
• The man of the morning was Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota), holder of three scratch times and hot on the heels of his teammate Takamoto Katsuta.
• In WRC2, no problems were reported for Yohan Rossel (Citroën). The Frenchman is impregnable and it is even another Tricolor who occupies 2nd place in the category: Nicolas Ciamin (Volkswagen)!
• In Junior WRC, it is still a Frenchman who dominates. Laurent Pellier has a lead of almost 4 minutes following the accident of his Irish rival William Creighton.
• The Croatia Rally will resume this Saturday for the second loop from 15:54 p.m. and can be followed in live text on AUTOhebdo.fr.