A three-way fight for victory was turned on its head in a handful of minutes – and it was the eight-time champion who emerged triumphant
TOM HOWARD PHOTOGRAPHY McKLEIN
At a time of uncertainty over the technical rules for the World Rally Championship next year, the intense fight for victory on Rally Croatia provided a great advert for the series. Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier emerged victorious from a tense and dramatic three-way fight with title contenders Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans, to become the fourth different winner of 2024 from as many events.
To continue the numerical symmetry, this was Croatia’s fourth appearance on the WRC calendar. It will, however, forever be associated with the death of the much-loved Craig Breen in a testing crash and, one year on, the talented Irishman was in the thoughts of the WRC fraternity, while Hyundai paid tribute by adding the Irish colours to the front and roof of its cars.
While Croatia triggers emotions, the rally itself over the past four years has provided gripping fights for victory thanks to its demanding, changeable-grip asphalt roads. And yet again it delivered a thriller. Truth be told, Ogier wasn’t expecting to record a 59th career win given his road position. Even sitting 11.6 seconds adrift of Neuville’s Hyundai heading into the final day, the eight-time world champion continued to downplay his chances. But such was the drama of the final day, and Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais managed to survive the several wild moments served up to shoot from third to score a shock triumph, Ogier’s 100th career podium.
“These [100 podiums] are things that you never think you will reach in your life, so I take that with pleasure and a smile,” reflected Ogier. “It has been a tough one, it has been a very eventful weekend. We knew coming here the starting position would be not in our favour, so we had to go for the risk option. I have done a couple of small mistakes this weekend and managed to not have too big a consequence, and a bit of luck was on my side.”
Risk-versus-reward strategies are familiar in motorsport and Croatia offered up a perfect example. It was pure luck as to whether the slightest of mistakes were punished severely or not.
One aspect that was predictable was the advantage of starting at the top of the road order, since with every pass more and more dirt was dragged onto the road surface. This meant that
