Finnish driver Kalle Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen took the win at the Croatian round of the 2022 WRC Championship after a long battle with a resurgent Ott Tänak.
Piloting his Toyota GR Yaris, Rovanperä fought Ott Tänak all the way to the final stage of the rally with them only being separated by 4.3s. Coming into the Power Stage, Tänak had taken the lead by 1.4s after a Sunday morning with more changeable weather, but it was the Finn that came out on top when it mattered.
Rovanperä started the opening day in Croatia emphatically by winning six of the eight asphalt stages in his GR Yaris. As he was running first on the road, he made the most of the treacherous conditions with rivals having to contend with rain, mud and mist that were deteriorating weather as they progressed.
Thierry Neuville endured a challenging day. After the first 4 stages, the Belgian found himself 12.5sec adrift, but this is where his Friday started to go downhill. His Hyundai i20 N suffered from a broken alternator which twice stopped the car en route to service. Unfortunately, this meant that Neuville and his co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe were given a 40sec penalty as they arrived four minutes late, this is despite having to push their car the final 800m.
The pair tried to fight back in the afternoon which initially had Neuville back up to second place but there was yet more bad news to come. Neuville was handed a 60sec penalty for repeated speeding infringements during the day which subsequently relegated them to fourth, 2min 04.0sec adrift and 28.8sec behind third-placed Craig Breen.
Neuville’s penalty meant that Ott Tänak went from being 19.3sec behind his Hyundai teammate to 30.7s ahead. The Estonian’s low start position, along with a penultimate stage puncture, meant that his day was far from smooth but was enough to set him up for the rest of the weekend.
Oliver Solberg took fifth after the first eight runs after being delayed by a spin, then an impact in a water-filled corner. This left him 10.6sec clear of Evans, as two punctures on his GR Yaris cost valuable time. He was almost 40sec clear of the similar car of a low-on-confidence Takamoto Katsuta.
Esapekka Lappi had the worst day due to retiring his GR Yaris in the first stage after clipping a boulder and wrecking the front right corner
Despite starting the second day of action with a 90sec lead, Rovanperä ended with just a 19.9sec advantage over second place. Tänak first reduced Rovanperä’s lead when the Finn punctured his front left tyre on the morning’s third speed test amid heavy rain and thick fog. While the two frontrunners were the only drivers to have Pirelli’s wet weather tyres on all four corners of their cars, Tänak pushed through to win the stage in his Hyundai i20 N. The puncture meant that Rovanperä conceded nearly 55sec.
Throughout the afternoon Tänak kept gaining ground on Kalle, despite a gear change problem, but it was on the final stage that Rovanperä hit back by setting the fastest time and gaining back 5.1sec.
Despite an improvement in the weather compared to Friday, the Platak repeat stage was canceled due to the weather worsening in the area.
Craig Breen and Thierry Neuville finished the day separated by 4.9sec in their fight for the final podium place. Both drivers didn’t have a clean day, Breen dropped time as he overshot a hairpin in his Ford Puma while Neuville’s weekend is having more peaks and troughs than the hills in which he is racing. His i20 N had to be pushed into service this morning and another 10sec penalty came for leaving a minute late.
Elfyn Evans completed the top 5. The Welshman took the opening stage win in his GR Yaris but was reluctant to take risks when on course for his first points finish of the year.
Unfortunately Oliver Solberg crashed his i20 N out of fifth in the opening stage, which was subsequently cancelled with rescue vehicles needing to attended a fire at the rear of the car.
Rovanperä had a 20sec lead heading into the final day of competition but it was never going to be plain sailing with Tänak closing in. Whilst proceedings started off dry, a storm in the penultimate stage handed a 1.4sec advantage to Tänak. In yet another twist though, the Wolf Power Stage featured drier roads which helped the Finn gain the edge over his rival. Kalle over turned the 1.4s deficit to win the rally by 4.3s. This gives Rovanperä back-to-back FIA World Rally Championship wins and thus extends his lead in the standings.
Finishing 2min 16.7sec behind of his Hyundai i20 team-mate, Thierry Neuville overhauled Craig Breen on the final morning to snatch a podium from what must be one of his most arduous events for some time. Sunday was no different to the previous two days as despite finishing on the podium, he did so with a crash on the final stage.
Rovanperä also won the Wolf Power Stage to claim five bonus points. Tänak scored four points in second with Elfyn Evans taking three in third in a GR Yaris. Craig Breen secured two points in fourth in the Ford Puma.
Next up we head to Portugal for round 4 of the FIA World Rally Championship. We get started on 19/05/2022 and end on 22/05/2022
