The fourth round of the 2024 WRC season, the Croatia Rally is upon us. Find out all you need to know about the event below.
Drivers’ Championship Rundown
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville leads the championship after the first three events of the season. The Belgian holds a 6-point lead over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans. Both Neuville and Evans were favourites to win the championship heading into the season alongside Ott Tänak. M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux who has had a stunner of a season thus far sits third in the championship, 21 points behind Neuville and 15 behind Evans. On the other hand, Hyundai’s Ott Tänak has had a less-than-desirable start to the season. As the 2019 World Champion has yet to finish in a podium position. Nevertheless, Tänak sits 13 points behind Fourmaux. Reigning champion Kalle Rovanperä rounds out the championship top five heading into the Croatia Rally. Rovanperä sits just 2 two points behind Tänak, However, Rovanperä will not contest this weekend’s event.
Manufacturers’ Championship Rundown
Despite only having one win under their belt this season the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT tops the manufacturers’ championship heading into the Croatia Rally. Toyota holds a four-point lead over the Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT. M-Sport Ford rounds out the top three in the championship sitting 55 points behind Hyundai and 59 points behind Toyota.
Event Rundown
Conditions
Conditions at the Croatia Rally are expected to vary throughout the weekend. As Friday is expected to be clear and dry for the most part. On Saturday it is expected to rain which would make the stages wet during the day, and they will likely be wet again on Sunday. It is worth noting this could entirely change, as conditions during recce were similar to Monte-Carlo’s. Anything is possible, drivers and teams will have to adapt on the fly as they do every weekend.
Day One
The first day of the Croatia Rally will see drivers contest 119.74 km across eight stages. The longest of the day’s stages is the 23.63 km Krašić-Sošice stage which is the final stage of each loop. While the shortest is the 9.48 km Jaškovo-Mali Morduš Potok stage which is the third stage of each loop. Day one will feature a single tire fitting zone between the two loops and no service.
Day Two
The second of three days will see drivers contest 108.76 km across another eight stages. The longest stage on the day is the 20.77 km Stojdraga-Gornja Vas stage which is the second stage of each loop. While the shortest stage of the day is the 8.78 km Vinski-Duga Resa stage which is the third stage of each loop. Unlike the first day the second day will feature one midday service for the drivers, the length of this service is 40 minutes.
Day Three
The third and final day of the Croatia Rally will see drivers contest 54.78 km across four stages. The longest stage of the day is the 14.24 km Zagorska Sela-Kumrovec stage which is the second stage of each loop and will serve as the Powerstage. While the shortest stage of the day is the 13.15 km Trakošćan-Vrbno stage which is the first stage of each loop.