Neuville in front seat ahead of sunday

Thierry Neuville has a big lead heading into the final day of Croatia rally. He has over a minute down to Takamoto Katsuta in second place. Photo: Christian Flodin / FotoINorr

Thierry Neuville started saturday on second position, just 0,9 seconds ahead of Takamoto Katsuta, and 13,7 seconds after Toyota driver Sami Pajari. Pajari held onto his lead until SS14 where he suffered a puncture and lost over two minutes. Katsuta also had a puncture, but it came late in the stage and he pushed on, dropping time while driving. Neuville had over a minute to spare in all the last three stages, giving him a comfortable lead over the last night.
Oliver Solberg crashed out on the first stage of friday, trying on his hard tires. “I should have saved them and used the softer ones from the start”, Solberg said. On saturday he restarted, but back in the field, nowhere near the podium. Despite that, Solberg managed to win all four stages on the first loop, and won two of the four stages on the second loop, but got puncture on the remaining two stages, but managed to finish the day.
In WRC2, Yohan Rossel has the lead, with an impressive fifth overall position, and has over a minute down to his younger brother Leo Rossel on second place, with Roope Korhonen on third, 15,5 seconds after Leo Rossel. Yohan Rossels teammate Nikolay Gryazin sits fourth after he got some troubles with a loose turbo pipe on SS14, dropping two positions.

Written by: Christian Flodin