After two days of competition, Kalle Rovanpera (Toyota) leads the Rally of Croatia, the third round of the WRC 2022, in a crazy race full of emotions. On Sunday the grand finale with four special stages, including the Power Stage
After the icy asphalt in Monte Carlo and the snow in Sweden, the WRC World Rally puts the crews and the new Rally 1 cars to the test in Croatia. Still winter temperatures in Zagreb and its surroundings, with fog and rain on the first day of competition. Better weather conditions for the second day of competition, albeit with special stages yes on asphalt but characterized by an uneven ground within the same special and with few anti-cuts and many bumps that sometimes become real jumps, thus putting to test the skills of the pilots. At the expense of a fund that is never easy to interpret – added to the dirt brought into the trajectory by the passages of the previous cars – several drivers, with many punctures.
WRC World Championship, Rally Croatia: Day1
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Everything happened on the first day of competition of the Rally of Croatia: the first eight special stages were characterized by rain, with all the top drivers opting for Pirelli wet tires. Many driving errors (PS1 and PS6 for Greensmith, PS2 for Breen), sometimes decisive for the fate of the race: Esapekka Lappi cut too much of a right-hand bend in PS1 hitting a rock that compromised the functioning of the front right suspension; Adrien Fourmaux crashed in the PS3 after an acquaplaning, the same “mistake” made by Oliver Solberg in the PS7. There are also many punctures: to report, among others, those of Elfyn Evans (PS1 and PS4). Bad day for Thierry Neuville, who took 1’50 ”penalty for an alternator problem that forced him, together with the navigator Martijn Wydaeghe, to push the Hyundai i20 Rally 1 for 800 meters, up to the service park. And as if that weren’t enough, he also got a hefty fine for speeding on the road. Absolute protagonist, at the end of Day1, the leader of the world classification Kalle Rovanpera, who slept soundly with a 1’23 “advantage over Ott Tanak.
WRC World Championship, Rally Croatia: Day2
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An eventful awakening for Rovanpera, with the puncture in the SS11 that made him lose almost all the advantage over the Estonian. First, however, in the PS9 the accident that saw Oliver Solberg’s i20 go up in flames. The son of art lost control of his Hyundai in a fast left-hander and ended up off the road and despite the spectacular crash the crew came out unscathed from the car. If Day1 was Rovanpera’s domination with 6 out of 8 PS wins, Day2 (dry surfaces for most of the day, with some riders who opted to mount two wet and two dry tires by crossing them) is the prerogative of Esapekka Lappi with 3 PS won against the 7 disputed (there were 8, but the PS15 was canceled for safety reasons). At the end of the day it is always Kalle Rovanpera who leads on Ott Tanak, while Craig Breen and Thierry Neuville (who without the minute and fifty penalty would be largely in first position) fight for the third position.
World WRC, Rally of Croatia, race classification after Day2
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1. Kalle Rovanpera (Fin-Toyota) in 2h 14’54 ”5
2. Ott Tanak (East-Hyundai) at 19 ”9
3. Craig Breen (Irl-Ford M-Sport) at 1’13 “4
4. Thierry Neuville (Bel-Hyundai) at 1’18 “3
5. Elfyn Evans (Gb-Toyota) at 2’08 “2
6. Takamoto Katsuta (Giap-Toyota) at 5’47 “7
7. Yohan Rossel (Fra-Citroen-WRC2) at 8’24 “6
8. Nikolaj Gryazin (Rus-Skoda-WRC2) at 8’59 “6
9. Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Pol-Skoda-WRC2) at 9’15 “5
10. Emil Lindholm (Fin-Skoda-WRC2) at 9’49 “3.
April 23, 2022 – 8:03 pm
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