24H of Le Mans
Croatia Rally 2022
08h
A first image has just reached us, thanks to viewer Pahor Jure. A fire broke out at the rear of the Hyundai i20 Rally1 Hybrid.
The Hyundai i20 Rally1 hybrid from O. Solberg on fire. © Pahor Jure
08h
The race management has decided to cancel the rest of the special! The Croatia Rally will resume at 8:41 a.m. with the 10th SS. For the moment, no images have been released of Oliver Solberg's accident, although the Hyundai Motorsport Twitter account indicated that the crew "was OK".
08h
The special is interrupted following Oliver Solberg's accident. Here is the provisional classification for the special, with an encouraging return from Pierre-Louis Loubet (Ford) following his punctures on Friday morning:
08h
Oliver Solberg and Eliott Edmondson were victims of an accident. The crew is doing well according to information given by the Hyundai Motorsport team. The Swedish driver was in fifth place after the first stage.
08h
Troubles are piling up for Thierry Neuville (Hyundai). The Belgian, already penalized 40″ for clocking in late during the first stage of the 2022 Croatia Rally, was given a heavy penalty of one minute on the night of Friday to Saturday.
The five-time vice-world rally champion (WRC) was in fact found guilty of several speeding offenses on an 11 km link course during the first stage. A peak of 156 km/h on a road limited to 80 km/h was recorded by the tracker installed by the FIA.
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Thierry Neuville defended himself by explaining that the alternator problems slowed him down and that he was “forced to go beyond the authorized speed” to make up for their delay in connection. The Belgian driver also indicated that his driving did not place anyone in danger because the road was empty, without traffic, at the time.
The FIA did not appreciate this conduct and imposed a fine of 1 euros as well as two days of community service on Thierry Neuville and his co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe.
As a result, Neuville-Wydaeghe fell to fourth place in the Croatia Rally standings, 2'04" behind leaders Rovanperä-Halttunen (Toyota).
08h
Oliver Solberg (Hyundai) is reported to have stopped in the special, even before the first intermediate point!
07h
Climatic conditions are improving. The rain has disappeared but the fog covers certain parts of the special. The road is mostly dry.
07h
Here is the order of departures for this stage:
07h
While waiting for the start of this stage, here is the summary of the day before:
Kalle Rovanperä does not intend to leave anything to his opponents in this Croatian Rally. Oh yes ! Two small specials (SS3 and SS8) went to Elfyn Evans during the 1e loop and to Thierry Neuville at the end of the day. Apart from that, the Finn, who leads the championship, outrageously dominated on Friday to return to his hotel room as the leader.
On his return to the service park, his record is almost perfect with 6 scratches in 8 stages contested during this first day of the Croatia Rally. With more than a minute ahead of Thierry Neuville before the start of SS8, Kalle Rovanperä allowed himself to slow down to concede 2 seconds over the Belgian. Nothing too alarming since he maintains a margin of 8'1 even if this is largely due to the 04-second penalty for a late check-in at midday inflicted on his Hyundai counterpart.
#WRC 🇭🇷 UPDATE @thierryneuville & @MWydaeghe had to push their car for 800m on the road section going back to service as it wouldn't start due to a potential alternator issue. Unfortunately they got a 40s penalty for checking in 4m late into the time control.#HMSGOfficial pic.twitter.com/EMjQ4iWdCq
— Hyundai Motorsport (@HMSGOfficial) April 22, 2022
Neuville clings to the podium
Dropped by Kalle Rovanperä, Thierry Neuville does not let go of his 2e position in the general classification. A time ahead of Ott Tänak and Craig Breen, the Belgian quickly set the record straight and quickly regained his right.
Back at the service park, the Hyundai representative is well ahead. If he received a 40 second penalty, Thierry Neuville gave everything to relegate Ott Tänak to 19”3 in just 4 special stages this Friday afternoon.
General classification after SS8
Rossel widens the gap
In WRC2, Yohan Rossel continues his march forward. In Croatia, the Habs had an almost perfect day. Although he did not sign a single scratch during the afternoon, the Nîmes rider was still able to widen the gap against his rivals at the top of the category.
After leading the debates ahead of Chris Ingram, Yohan Rossel dominates WRC2 with a 36” lead over Nikolay Gryazin. At the gates of the Top 3 during the first loop, Éric Camilli made a leap forward during the second to climb onto the provisional podium at 5 from 59e instead.
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07h
Hello everyone ! The second stage of the 2022 Croatia Rally promises to be lively! The first round of the 2022 World Rally Championship (WRC) season to be contested on asphalt will begin at 7:43 a.m. this Saturday, April 23. Eight specials are on the program.
Waiting for the return of Sébastien Loeb (and surely Sébastien Ogier) in Portugal (May 19 to 22), the WRC will do without the legend this weekend for the Croatia Rally. Leader of the world championship since his victory in Sweden in February, Kalle Rovanpera has the opportunity to set sail.
The Finn put his plan into action on the first stage on Friday, winning no less than six special stages. The Toyota Yaris GR hybrid has a lead of 1'23"3 over its direct pursuer, Ott Tänak (Hyundai).
Second stage program:
