WRC Croatia: The Good, The Bad and a

If they protract to perform at this level, there will be shortage of superlatives to describe Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen. The pair take the top performer ribbon for the second event in row, pursuit their impressive run to victory in Sweden with a scenic exhibit in Croatia.

This victory is without question Rovanpera’s weightier of his fledgling career, and his fourth win in the last nine WRC rallies since scoring a transilience maiden win in Estonia last July.

Before the weekend, Rovanpera had never won on tarmac and headed into Rally Croatia with limited knowledge - having crashed out five kilometres into last year\'s opening stage - that left many to suggest he may not be the favourite for victory.

However, Rovanpera reached a new level wideness the tricky three-day tile event, as wet and foggy weather made conditions particularly difficult for crews. The 21-year-old did goody from having the cleanest road, but he was moreover the first to encounter the challenges that lay ahead.

PLUS: How Rovanpera\'s Croatia turnaround sent a message to his WRC rivals

To lead by increasingly than minute on the opening day is rare feat, which outlines just how impressive Rovanpera’s momentum was as he won six of the first eight stages in a performance Toyota superabound Jari-Matti Latvala labelled as Rovanpera’s weightier yet in a WRC car.

In truth, he could have enjoyed a relatively well-appointed run to victory, but a front left puncture on Saturday’s Stage 11 reduced his wholesomeness to 18.2s over Tanak. The only vandalize was an incorrect tyre undeniability that left him with a combination of wets and nonflexible tyres to tackle a sopping wet penultimate stage, where a 28.4s lead turned into a 1.4s deficit to Hyundai’s Ott Tanak heading into a final stage showdown.

Despite stuff on junior tyres for the conditions, Rovanpera saved his weightier until last, producing a Colin McRae-style “full send” power stage momentum that will live long in the memory of rally fans to overhaul Tanak and snatch the win by 4.3s.

It left onlookers stunned, including his team superabound Latvala, who labelled Rovanpera as “miracle kid” and was unable to explain how his suburbanite pulled off the victory.

“It was an wondrous performance,” Latvala told Autosport. “I did not think he could win the stage and the rally. On paper we were sure Tanak had largest tyres and he was going to win, but I don’t know where he pulled that speed and that wade from. I have no words to describe the momentum that he did.” 

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

Photo by: Romain Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport

Honourable mentions: Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja - Hyundai

Ott Tanak deserves huge credit for the fight he put up to try and wrestle a win yonder from Rovanpera. The Hyundai suburbanite openly admitted that he was only worldly-wise to rencontre Rovanpera thanks to the conditions and acing the tyre call, but there is no doubt the 2019 world champion extracted the maximum out of his Hyundai i20 N.

The Estonian managed to tropical to within 13.0s of Rovanpera pursuit the Finn’s puncture on Saturday and unromantic real pressure on the leader surpassing a stunning momentum in the wet on Sunday to take the lead.

Tanak once then showed his matriculation overdue the wheel to score a first podium since Rally Finland in October and was gracious in defeat without Rovanpera’s final stage effort.

“It is nothing to do with [hard] luck, just pure speed and performance from Kalle,” Tanak told Autosport. “He was really fast all of the weekend. We were just worldly-wise to manage him and alimony him under pressure with our good tyre choices and the tactics for variegated stages.

“But other than that, I would say we had nothing to respond to him. All we could do is not do any mistakes and just alimony going. It didn’t completely pay off, but considering where we were on Friday evening, stuff 1m30s overdue and to go into the final stage as we did, it was the weightier we could do.”

Sami Pajari - Junior WRC

While his rally ultimately ended in a retirement, reigning Junior WRC champion Sami Pajari turned heads in the new M-Sport-built Rally3 Ford Fiesta by posting the eighth fastest time on Stage 11. That was quicker than WRC Rally1 runners Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) and Pierre-Louis Loubet (M-Sport- Ford), and only 1.5s shy of Gus Greensmith.

The Finn was moreover quicker than all bar one of the WRC2 runners to outline his pace on the tricky wet Croatia roads. 

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

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

Team of the Week: Hyundai Motorsport

Hyundai unfurled its recovery from a poor start to the season with a double podium in Croatia and challenged for the victory right up until the last stage.

Considering the team was significantly roaming of its Toyota and M-Sport rivals in Monte Carlo, the turnaround in form since then has been hugely impressive, whence with Thierry Neuville’s second place finish in Sweden.

While the team has been working nonflexible to modernize its i20N in the eight-week unravel since Sweden, deputy team director Julien Moncet admitted that much of the focus had been virtually the i20’s performance on gravel - given there are only three increasingly tarmac rallies on the calendar.

As a result, Moncet was unsure if his team would be competitive in Croatia, surpassing going on to record a 2-3 as Tanak narrowly missed out the win, while Thierry Neuville personal third without an eventful rally.

Hyundai’s tyre calls were spot on throughout, with the visualization to take hards on Sunday a masterstroke thanks to its weather information which predicted a downpour on Stage 19.

“That was an veritably incredible end to Croatia Rally, and we come yonder with a double podium result, which is very good for us without a difficult start to the season,” said Moncet.

\"We struggled at Monte-Carlo, we reacted well with a second place in Sweden, and now we have a double podium, so we are showing improvements. As a team, we are hungry and we want more. We’ll alimony pushing in this direction.”

Gus Greensmith, Jonas Andersson, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: M-Sport

Lucky Escapes

Challenging wet and slippery conditions provided several tropical calls wideness the rally. M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux was fortunate to sally unscathed without a wild crash on Stage 3.

Fourmaux was unprotected out by standing water on a fast left hander that had once scrutinizingly unprotected out Neuville out moments earlier. However, unfortunately the Frenchman speared through a hedge ending up in the garden of residential property. His Ford Puma suffered chassis damage, spelling a third subsequent retirement.
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Here's how Adrien Fourmaux's day ended in Croatia, with his Ford Puma smashing through a hedge into a resident's garden ?⁠
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Team-mate Gus Greensmith managed to escape a nervous moment on the opening stage without a tropical undeniability with a grass bank.