At the end of the final day of Croatia Rally, Elfyn Evans takes his first victory of the season with Ott Tanak and Esapekka Lappi completing the podium.
Elfyn Evans finishes at the highest place of the podium taking advantage of Thierry Neuville's retirement yesterday and returns to the victories after two years as his last time he won a WRC event was back in 2021 in Finland. The Welshman is the new championship leader after the end of this tarmac event.
Ott Tanak remained in second position overall and was not able to catch Evans on the classification as their gap is at 27 seconds after Croatia Rally.
Esapekka Lappi completes the top three and his target was to take no risks on Sunday, so he dropped time compared to the Toyota duo that were behind him. It was his first time competing at Croatia Rally and secured his maiden podium with Hyundai colors.
Kalle Rovanpera stole the fourth place from Sebastien Ogier at the end of Stage 17 as he was the fastest driver in SS17 and SS19. Moreover, he took the four extra points from Powerstage as he was the second fastest driver there.
The eight-time World Rally Champion dropped to fifth as he did not respond to his teammate's attack while he said at the end of SS18 that he was struggling with the locking on the front of his Yaris. In addition to that, he had a moment in SS19 and lost his momentum as he was faster than Rovanpera on the splits, but eventually he was beaten by 0,1 seconds there. Finally, he was being happy that Powerstage was finished as he faced a lot if understeer with his Yaris.
Takamoto Katsuta follows their teammates on the classification of Croatia Rally and lost more ground in the stages in comparison with them.
Pierre-Louis Loubet finished in seventh place overall and this day was very difficualt for him as he was driving thourghout SS17 wighout stage mode while the steering of his Puma was completely bent from SS18 onwards after hitting something at the end of SS18.
Thierry Neuville restarted today under the regulations of Rally2 after his retirement on Saturday and finished outside the top ten. He was the fastest driver in Stage 18, which is the first pass of Powerstage, and scored the five bonus points in PS.
Watch below the stage times:
Watch below the overall classification after the end of Rally Croatia:
Photo Credits: Toyota
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