WRC Croatia: Rovanpera snatches win from Tanak in thrilling showdown

Rovanpera headed into the final power stage 1.4s overdue Tanak without losing grip on a rally lead he held from Stage 1 when a sudden downpour turned the rally on its throne in the penultimate stage.

However, Rovanpera produced a stunning momentum on the final stage to write-up Tanak by 5.6 seconds to take victory by 4.3s, and scoop the five power stage bonus points.

The Finn set up the victory by winning six of the eight stages on a wet Friday but then witnessed his 1m23s lead over Tanak reduced to 16.8s without suffering front left puncture in the rain on Saturday. He was worldly-wise to recover to hold a 19.9s wholesomeness heading into Sunday.

After recovering from a puncture on Friday afternoon, Tanak fought nonflexible and looked on undertow for a possible victory without making the most of his wet and nonflexible tyre mix in the rain on Stage 19, only to be denied at the last stage by Rovanpera. 

Hyundai sealed a double podium as Thierry Neuville finished third, but only without dramatic finish to the final stage that saw his i20 N scrutinizingly flip when he ran into a ditch. Without recovering from the moment with a front right and left rear puncture, he was worldly-wise to well-constructed an impressive recovery without a series of penalties and misfortune.

The Belgian had ended Friday\'s morning loop 12.5s overdue rally leader Rovanpera surpassing his rally began to unravel. First an alternator failure required Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe to push their stricken i20 N 800m into service where they checking in four minutes later and incurred a 40s penalty.

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

The pair were then given a one-minute penalty and a €1,900 fine on Friday night without stuff clocked driving at 156kph on a road section limited to 80kph pursuit Stage 4, dropping the duo from second to fourth heading into Saturday.

Neuville was then hit with flipside 10s penalty without hybrid issue prevented them from leaving service on time. However, a charging momentum on Saturday afternoon and into Sunday saw him overhaul Breen, who had held third since Friday evening.

Breen had led M-Sport’s wade throughout the event but was left to settle for fourth without witnessing a 4.9s wholesomeness over Neuville evaporate on Sunday.

Elfyn Evans picked up much needed points in fifth without his hopes of a podium were dealt a heavy wrack-up on Friday without suffering two front left punctures, and was unable to recover the lost ground.

Evans was elevated into fifth without Hyundai’s Oliver Solberg retried from the rally without crashing out on Saturday’s Stage 9. The Swede had driven well on his Croatia having navigated through the first two days, with the only vandalize a skim with an armco barrier.

However, his event came to an end pursuit a high-speed crash that resulted in his i20 N transmissible fire once it had come to rest versus a grass bank. The hairdo escaped unharmed.  

Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta came home in sixth as the last of the Rally1 runners to well-constructed the full rally distance. The Japanese suburbanite was among a list of six drivers to suffer from a spate of punctures.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

M-Sport’s Gus Greensmith suffered five tyre failures, four on the wet compound, which forced him to retire on Friday night. Team-mate Pierre-Louis Loubet picked up three punctures in the opening two stages that moreover derailed any hopes of securing points on his WRC return. The duo returned to whoopee on Saturday but the same could not be said for the other M-Sport entry driven by Adrien Fourmaux. 

The Frenchman was unprotected out by a wet patch of road on Friday’s third stage which resulted in his Puma spearing through a hedge and into a garden belonging to a residential property. Chassis forfeiture prevented M-Sport from repairing the car on site.

Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi was flipside suburbanite unprotected out on the opening day as he clipped a boulder on the event’s first stage that caused significant forfeiture this GR Yaris’ front right suspension. The Finn returned on Saturday and went on to requirement four stages wins wideness Saturday and Sunday.   

In WRC2, Citroen suburbanite Yohan Rossel took the honours from Skoda’s Kajetan Kajetanowicz.