Four special stages remain on Sunday, with Neuville holding a significant advantage. 6 seconds behind Neuville, and would need significant problems for Neuville and Takamoto Katsuta to have any chance of victory. 2 seconds behind.
2 seconds behind. Incidents disrupted the rally, with two Rally1 cars suffering tire punctures on the second special stage, involving Adrien Fourmaux and Jon Armstrong. Elfyn Evans went off the road and retired on special stage 3, and Oliver Solberg went off the road and retired on the first special stage.
It has been a difficult afternoon. We are still in contention for a podium position. I should be happy, but it's hard to find anything positive from this afternoon. Tomorrow is another good day. It feels a bit like we've lost this game. Still in contention for a podium spot, that's not bad. But this afternoon is quite a big disappointment.
Audience behavior caused problematic issues at the Croatian rally shakedown on Thursday, requiring multiple interruptions. The Croatian rally returns to the WRC calendar after a one-year break with a new headquarters in Rijeka and a new route. Emil Lindholm, 29, is starting his WRC season this weekend, having switched co-driver to Brazilian Gabriel Morales, 36, who reads pace notes in Finnish, and hired rally veteran Toni Gardemeister, 51, for his recce car team.
Sami Pajari has finished third in both the Swedish WRC rally and Safari Rally this season and is fifth in the WRC points standings. Tire manufacturer Hankook replaced Pirelli in the WRC at the start of the 2025 season.
This weekend everything just clicked. The car has felt better from the start than in previous rallies. We have improved step by step, and I am comfortable with this car. We can maintain a good pace. The most important thing is that the feeling in the car is good. I am enjoying this.
It was as if someone had burned rubber on the stage. It smelled quite a lot.
The feeling with this car on asphalt has been good so far. We did take our first WRC top class podium finish on asphalt last year in Japan.
In the tests before the rally, it was dry with quite fast and smooth roads, but the actual rally can be quite different. Normally it's quite difficult when mud comes onto the road from corner cuts. So it won't be easy, but the feeling is good.