WRC Croatia: Rovanpera responds to Tanak’s Saturday charge

The Toyota driver came under pressure from Hyundai's Tanak after losing almost a minute to the 2019 world champion following a front left puncture on Stage 11 earlier this morning.

Tanak managed to close to within 13s of Rovanpera during the afternoon before the rally leader fought back winning the final stage of the day, his seventh fastest time of the event, to extend his overall lead to 19.9s.

Tanak emerged as Rovanpera's nearest rival after his Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville was hit with a one minute penalty overnight for speeding on a road section that dropped the Belgian from second to fourth overall.

M-Sport-Ford's Craig Breen ended the day in the final podium position but only has slender 4.9s advantage over Neuville in fourth. Neuville started the day 28.8s behind Breen but produced a stirring fightback despite battling against an engine issue.

Toyota's Elfyn Evans ended the day in fifth after moving up a position following Oliver Solberg's crash on stage 9, that resulted in his Hyundai catching fire. Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson escaped the incident unharmed.

Takamoto Katsuta was the last of the Rally1 cars, to have completed the full distance thus far, in sixth.

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

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

For the first time this weekend crews faced sunny and dry conditions for the first of the afternoon's stages, a repeat of the test that was cancelled after Solberg's high-speed crash.

Retuning to the action after a collision with a boulder ended his Friday early, Esapekka Lappi notched up his second stage win of the day as the Toyota driver pipped Neuville to the fastest time by 0.7s.

Neuville's time arrived despite his Hyundai suffering from an engine problem that limited him to 40% throttle for the final five kilometres.

Battling a gearbox issue, Tanak took more time out of rally leader Rovanpera, cutting the overall deficit to 13s as the latter elected for a more cautious approach after the earlier puncture.

Lappi struck again on Stage 14 to claim a hat trick of fastest times, this time he had a 2.7s margin over Neuville, who confirmed that his engine was working normally in the stage.

Neuville's pace allowed him to take more time out of the gap to Breen, sitting in third overall, with the gap coming down to 5.9s.

Rovanpera managed to get the better of Tanak which saw his overall lead extend back out to 14.8s.

Craig Breen, Paul Nagle, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: M-Sport

The crews were forced to skip Stage 15 as event organisers cancelled the stage for safety reasons due to poor visibility, as thick fog descended around the 15.85km test.

The final stage of the day, held in the late evening sun, was won by Rovanpera by 3.4s from teammate Lappi.

"This is my reply. It was a good stage - full send," said Rovanpera when asked if this was a reply to Tanak's pressure.

Neuville managed to claw another second back over Breen after beating the Irishman to the third fastest time in the stage.

Rally Croatia concludes on Sunday after four more stages.

Results:

Cla	Driver/Codriver	Car	Gap
1	Kalle Rovanperä Jonne Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
2	Thierry Neuville Martijn Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	4.600
3	Ott Tanak Martin Jarveoja	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	14.800
4	Craig Breen Paul Nagle	Ford Puma Rally1	1'08.700
5	Elfyn Evans Scott Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2'02.900
6	Takamoto Katsuta Aaron Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	5'39.700
7	Yohan Rossel Valentin Sarreaud	Citroën C3 Rally2	7'57.900
8	Nikolay Gryazin Konstantin Aleksandrov	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	8'37.300
9	Kajetan Kajetanowicz Maciek Szczepaniak	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	8'53.900
10	Emil Lindholm Reeta Hämäläinen	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	9'22.600
11	Chris Ingram Craig Drew	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	10'13.600
12	Eric Camilli Thibault De la Haye	Citroën C3 Rally2	10'25.600
13	Stéphane Lefebvre Andy Malfoy	Citroën C3 Rally2	10'42.100
14	Sami Pajari Enni Mälkönen	Ford Fiesta Rally3	12'25.800
15	Robert Virves Aleks Lesk	Ford Fiesta Rally3	12'27.900
16	Erik Cais Petr Těšínský	Ford Fiesta Rally2	12'42.000
17	Lauri Joona Mikael Korhonen	Ford Fiesta Rally3	13'29.000
18	Gus Greensmith Jonas Andersson	Ford Puma Rally1	13'52.600
19	Mikko Heikkilä Samu Vaaleri	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	15'18.700
20	Mikołaj Marczyk Szymon Gospodarczyk	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	15'32.200
21	Armin Kremer Timo Gottschalk	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	15'41.500
22	Sean Johnston Alexander Kihurani	Citroën C3 Rally2	15'45.300
23	Johannes Keferbock Ilka Minor	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	17'49.100
24	Jean-Baptiste Franceschi Anthony Gorguilo	Ford Fiesta Rally3	17'54.600
25	Benito Guerra Daniel Cue	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	18'58.300
26	Mauro Miele Luca Beltrame	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	19'14.800
27	Olivier Burri Anderson Levratti	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	19'42.900
28	Pierre Ragues Julien Pesenti	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	21'12.900
29	Aljosa Novak Uroš Ocvirk	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	24'10.500
30	Darko Peljhan Matej Čar	Škoda Fabia R5	26'26.600
31	Róbert Bútor Róbert Tagai	Peugeot 208 Rally4	27'02.900
32	Jari Huttunen Mikko Lukka	Ford Fiesta Rally2	29'12.400
33	Alfred Kramer Jeannette Andersson	Peugeot 208 Rally4	29'36.100
34	Vlastimil Majerčák Jakub Slovák	Ford Fiesta Rally3	30'20.200
35	Zoltán László Tamás Kürti	Ford Fiesta Rally3	33'37.500
36	Enrico Brazzoli Manuel Fenoli	Ford Fiesta Rally3	34'46.900
37	Fabrizio Arengi Massimiliano Bosi	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	34'53.600
38	Viliam Prodan Zoran Raštegorac	Renault Clio Rally4	34'56.100
39	Neil Simpson Michael Gibson	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	35'16.200
40	Martin Ravenščak Marko Stiperski	Ford Fiesta Rally4	35'22.500
41	Ivica Siladić Jasna Durak	Ford Fiesta Rally3	36'32.200
42	Niko Pulic Aleksandra Kovačić	Škoda Fabia R5	36'39.600
43	Lazar Milovanović Goran Rabasović	Ford Fiesta Rally4	37'22.600
44	Krešimir Ravenščak Dora Ravenščak	Ford Fiesta Rally4	41'33.600
45	Georg Linnamäe James Morgan	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	41'46.500
46	McRae Kimathi Mwangi Kioni	Ford Fiesta Rally3	42'17.100
47	Filippo Marchino Roberto Briani	Škoda Fabia R5	43'46.600
48	Henk Vossen Hans van Goor	Ford Fiesta R5	49'16.200
49	Ricardo Trivino Marc Marti	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	51'51.900
50	Pierre-Louis Loubet Vincent Landais	Ford Puma Rally1	1:05'04.400
51	Jan Pokos Viljem Ošlaj	Ford Fiesta Rally4	1:08'12.700
52	Esapekka Lappi Janne Ferm	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	1:19'03.600
53	William Creighton Liam Regan	Ford Fiesta Rally3	1:26'29.100
54	Carlo Covi Michela Lorigiola	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	1:29'56.600
55	Osamu Fukunaga Misako Saida	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	1:32'47.400
56	Željko Magličić Ivan Poljak	Ford Fiesta Rally4	1:39'03.500
57	Cristiana Oprea Andrei Mitrașcă	Peugeot 208 R2	2:00'26.500
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