Elfyn Evans heads into Sunday’s deciding leg on top in his bid to win Croatia Rally for the first time and end a World Rally Championship victory drought dating back to October 2021.
But despite holding an advantage of 25.4s over Ott Tanak in second, the Toyota man is taking nothing for granted with 54.48 competitive kilometres across four stages still to come.
Evans, who lost out on winning the first Croatia Rally to count for the WRC in 2021 by 0.6s, appeared to be in control after Thierry Neuville, the Friday pace-setter, crashed out of the lead 5.2km through the 10.13km Ravna Gora – Skrad test on Saturday morning.
The Welshman reached the midday service halt in Zagreb 22.6s in front, only for Tanak to eat into that margin as Evans struggled for form in his GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid.
With two stages of Saturday’s middle leg remaining, Tanak had cut the gap to Evans to 12.6s.
However, with reported technical issues slowing his Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid, Tanak appeared powerless to keep Evans in check as the 34-year-old opened up an advantage of 25.4s at the end of SS16.
“I can’t say I was so happy with the way I drove in there and if Ott has had problems I wouldn’t wish that on him,” Evans said.
“It’s not nice to inherit a gap like that but there’s still a long way to go.”
Asked to explain his issues, Tanak offered little, apart from hinting at a handbrake fault after SS15. “I don’t know, I don’t know, difficult to say. It’s terrible to drive and not for me, I don’t know what is happening, happy it’s over.”
While Evans might be out of reach barring any issues, Tanak will tackle Sunday’s itinerary 30.0s clear of third-placed Esapekka Lappi, who has been unable to fully pinpoint the nature of his struggles aboard his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid.
“Yesterday was a better day for us to be honest,” Lappi said.
“I’ve never been really good on the dirty Tarmac and today was one of the days and I struggle a lot when there is a lot of pollution on the road.”
Despite being hit by two time penalties, 2021 Croatia Rally winner Sebastien Ogier is currently in fourth position, just 2.0s ahead of his factory Toyota team-mate, the reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera, who triumphed in Croatia last season.
“If there’s a fight we give everything we’ve got,” Rovanpera said of the prospect of taking on Ogier on Sunday.
Takamoto Katsuta is sixth at the overnight halt after a long battle with Pierre-Louis Loubet.
WRC2 leader Yohan Rossel is eighth in his PH Sport Citroen C3 Rally2 followed by Toksport Skoda Fabia drivers Nikolay Gryazin and Emil Lindholm, the 2022 WRC2 champion, who hold ninth and 10th overall respectively.
The final leg of the Croatia Rally begins at 07:08 CET on Sunday April 23 with the 13.05km SS17, Trakoscan – Vrbno. The 14.09km Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec test will form the bonus points-paying Power Stage when it’s run for a second time from 13:15 CET.
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