(Reuters) – Toyota’s Elfyn Evans took control of the Croatia Rally on Saturday after Hyundai’s overnight leader Thierry Neuville crashed out.
The Welshman, who secured his last win in Finland in 2021, led M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tanak by 25.4 seconds going into the Zagreb-based rally’s final round of four stages on Sunday.
Tanak went on a charge and closed the gap from 22.6 seconds to 12.5 at the end of stage 14 but the Estonian then lost time late in the day with technical problems.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi was in third place, a further 30 seconds back, and eight-times world champion Sebastien Ogier was a distant fourth for Toyota in what is a part-time season for the Frenchman.
Ogier, the championship leader after three rounds, was handed a one-minute time penalty on Friday for not having his safety harness correctly fastened while the car was moving on stage two.
He collected a further 10-second penalty on Saturday for checking in late for the opening stage.
Neuville had started the day 5.7 seconds clear of Evans but his hopes disappeared when he skidded off the slippery asphalt on the 11th stage, the third of the day’s eight.
The Belgian clipped a concrete block with the rear left of the car and then hit roadside trees, causing too much damage for the crew to continue.
Hyundai are competing with a special tribute livery to their Irish driver Craig Breen who died in a testing crash in Croatia last week.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Clare Fallon)
