Thierry Neuville leads narrowly ahead of Elfyn Evans and Sébastien Ogier at the Croatian Rally

Ranking Rally of Croatia 2024 – midday Saturday:

• The 2024 Croatia Rally keeps all its promises at the halfway point this Saturday. Like the day before, a trio of drivers broke away at the front and are fighting for victory: Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), Elfyn Evans (Toyota) and Sébastien Ogier (Toyota). After 12 specials (out of 20), it's the Belgian who leads the way ahead of the Welsh and the French:

A strong start to the day for @thierryneuville and @MWydaeghe who extend their lead on the opening stage despite being last of the Rally1 runners 📈#CroatiaRally #WRC pic.twitter.com/fMtjFwP5aY

— Hyundai Motorsport (@HMSGOfficial) April 20, 2024

• Thierry Neuville regained some air against Elfyn Evans, while the two men were tied on Friday evening. The weather forecast, which predicted showers, remained surprisingly mild for the moment. The match is therefore played regularly on dry asphalt.
• « We had the right tires, we kept them at an optimal performance level this morning”, declared Thierry Neuville.
• For his return to a Rally1 since Monte-Carlo at the end of January, Sébastien Ogier is driving in 3rd place. The eight-time world champion remains in ambush for the win, and set 2 scratch times in the morning.
• Aware that he cannot play any role for the podium this weekend, Adrien fourmaux (M-Sport Ford) shows intelligence to secure a position in the top 5, behind Ott Tänak (Hyundai) and in front of Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota).
• En WRC2, Citroën and the DG Sport Compétition continue to dominate the debates. Russian Nikolay Gryazin took advantage of punctures from Yohan Rossel (Citroën) and Gus Greensmith (Skoda) to increase his lead to more than a minute. Yohan Rossel, however, remains in 2nd position among the drivers who entered Croatia in their WRC2 championship, which is not the case for Greensmith and Sami Pajari (Toyota).
• In Junior WRC, Romet Jürgenson leads in front of the Belgian Tom Rensonnet with almost 1'30”. Identical hierarchy in WRC3, except for the presence of the young Frenchman Mattéo Chatillon (Renault Clio) in 4th place at 2'11".
• The second loop will begin at 14:31 p.m. and will be followed in live text on AUTOhebdo.fr.

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