WRC
Pajari holds firm as Croatia Rally fight tightens on Saturday
Sami Pajari clung to the Croatia Rally lead at Saturday’s midpoint after a punishing morning loop that saw Thierry Neuville close in, Takamoto Katsuta lose ground and Adrien Fourmaux crash out.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver headed into midday service with a 12.4sec advantage over Hyundai Motorsport’s Neuville, while Katsuta completed the top three but slipped 25.1sec from the front after a difficult third stage of the loop.
Behind them, Hayden Paddon continued his impressive Croatia debut in fourth, with the attrition-hit field reduced further when his i20 N Rally1 team-mate Fourmaux retired from fifth place on SS12.
Although the overall battle remained live, the standout stage times belonged to drivers well down the order. Restarting after Friday’s dramas, Oliver Solberg won all four morning tests to underline the pace that had gone unrewarded on the opening day, while Elfyn Evans and Jon Armstrong also showed strong speed from the road-opening positions outside the fight for overall honours.
Pajari’s morning began solidly enough on Platak, where he edged Neuville by just one tenth to stretch his overnight lead to 13.8sec. On roads littered with leaves, dirt and unpredictable grip, the Finn was content to be measured rather than spectacular.
“I tried to push in places where I feel I can,” he said. “You can see there are a lot of leaves and you don’t know if you will get the grip or not.”
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Katsuta then mounted a brief charge on SS10 Ravna Gora - Skrad, beating Neuville by 4.8sec and reclaiming second overall by 1.2sec. But the momentum swung again on the following test, a brand-new and increasingly dirty Generalski Stol - Zdihovo stage, where Neuville delivered a crucial response.
The Belgian was 16.9sec faster than Katsuta there and vaulted back into second, cutting Pajari’s lead to 11.8sec in the process. It was one of the key moments of the morning and kept Hyundai firmly in the hunt heading into the repeated afternoon loop.
Pajari, meanwhile, emerged from the same stage with slight front-left wheel damage but limited the loss well enough to remain in control. He then edged Neuville again on SS12 to rebuild his lead to 12.4sec by service.
“It’s feeling good,” Pajari said after the loop-closing Pećurkovo Brdo test. “If I saw correctly, again it’s quicker than Thierry, so that’s good.”
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Katsuta’s morning was more uneven. After his strong time on SS10, the Japanese driver lost confidence badly on SS11 and dropped back to 27.5sec from the lead before recovering some ground on the final stage. Even so, he remains under pressure from the championship picture and made clear that bringing home points is now the priority.
“I really have to bring the car back,” he said. “The situation is not easy. Bringing the car back is the most important thing.”
Paddon continued to build confidence on only his second start of the season and remains a secure fourth overall, 1min 35.8sec from the lead. The New Zealander was not fully comfortable in the murky grip conditions early on, but a clean loop and Fourmaux’s retirement strengthened his position considerably.
Fourmaux’s rally, by contrast, came to an abrupt halt on SS12 when he ran wide on a right-hander and damaged the left-rear suspension of his Hyundai i20 N Rally1. The Frenchman had already been fighting to recover from Friday’s puncture and his exit further thinned the Rally1 field.
Elsewhere, M-Sport Ford youngster Josh McErlean endured a difficult morning. He lost more than seven minutes on SS10 after a small electrical fire forced him to stop mid-stage, though he was able to continue.
Behind the depleted top-class runners, Yohan Rossel held fifth overall and continued to lead the WRC2 charge, with Lancia team-mate Nikolay Gryazin and his brother Léo Rossel also remaining inside the overall top eight.
