Croatia Rally – Neuville and Evans don’t let go of each other, Ogier watches them

• The battle between Thierry Neuville and will Elfyn Evans see this through to the end? Rally from Croatia? It is still very early to answer this question but the two men will start Saturday wheel in wheel after a Friday full of twists and turns.
• Thierry Neuville, however, believed he had done the hardest part by pushing Elfyn Evans back to just over 10 seconds after SS5. But with a snap of the fingers, all the counters were reset to zero, or almost. Indeed, during the following special, the Belgian suffered a puncture three kilometers from the finish. If he limited the damage, the latter saw his counterpart come back to 1 tenth before he stole the overall lead by 1 at the end of SS6.
• Elfyn Evans could then hope to return to the service park in the shoes of the leader after a very long day. Alas, the pilot Hyundai was not of this opinion and increased the pace. In his faster turn, Thierry Neuville erased his 1" delay to finish Friday in a perfect tie! Nothing is therefore done for the two men who could also welcome another pilot into the battle.

The Ogier threat, Fourmaux in the Top 5

• Never really happy with his performance behind the wheel of the Yaris which he found almost three months after his 2^e place at Monte-Carlo, Sébastien Ogier raised the tone in the final sprint. After a first scratch during SS7, the eight-time world champion did it again in an authoritative manner during the last one. By beating everyone by at least 9”, the Gapençais struck a major blow.
• When it comes time to do the math this Friday evening, the pilot Toyota is now only 6"6 behind Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans. With a better position on the road this Saturday, he could perhaps win after finding a smile again at the end of the day.
• In search of a third podium in a row, Adrien fourmaux regretted his choice to start only on soft tires this Friday morning. With a bad strategy, the Northerner quickly fell behind, compromising his chances of Top 3. Nevertheless, he remains well placed in 5^e place at 11“6 fromOtt Tänak behind him.

General classification after Friday of the Croatian Rally

• In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin made everyone agree. In the duel which pitted him against Frenchman Yohan Rossel, the Russian took the lead with a margin of 31 before the start of the second day of the Croatia Rally.

The action will resume this Saturday at 7:31 a.m. and can be followed once again in live text on AUTOhebdo.

The complete ranking

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