Lefebvre’s Citroën C3 Rally2 tops a star-studded entry of almost 30 WRC2 cars as he returns to the series after missing February’s Rally Sweden.
The Frenchman posted several leading stage times at the season opener in Monte-Carlo, but failed to finish after going off the road and ripping a wheel off the car.
Yohan Rossel, who also hails from France, is another driver looking for a change in fortune after a mistake at round one blew his chances of a podium result.
Rossel has new co-driver Valentin Sarreaud calling the pace notes and can count on previous Croatia knowledge having finished third in WRC3 here last season. Eric Camilli, with new partner Thibault de la Haye, completes an all-Citroën leading trio.
Nikolay Gryazin fields a Škoda Fabia Rally2 for Toksport WRT, while popular Pole Kajetan Kajetanowicz makes a welcome return to the stages after finishing runner-up in last year’s WRC3 with a similar car.
Flying Finn Emil Lindholm joins Gryazin in the Toksport camp along with Chris Ingram, who has the vastly-experienced Craig Drew debuting alongside him. Drew navigated for top-tier pilot Oliver Solberg on two rallies in 2021 and has also won several American titles with David Higgins.
Erik Cais and Jari Huttunen will both steer Ford Fiesta Rally2 machines, with the latter scoring points for British team M-Sport Ford. Meanwhile, Luxembourg’s Gregoire Munster is the sole Hyundai i20 N Rally2 entrant and is one of several youngsters also eligible for WRC2 Junior points.
Other frontrunning contenders include Georg Linnamäe in a Volkswagen Polo and Sean Johnston in a Citroën plus Fabia hopefuls Mikko Heikkilä, Benito Guerra and Miko Marczyk.
German giant Armin Kremer tops the WRC2 Masters contingent for competitors over the age of 50. He will face rivals including Neil Simpson, Mauro Miele and home hero Niko Pulić, who plans to bow into retirement after this rally.
At 76 years old, Henk Vossen is arguably the most experienced driver in the field. The two-time Dutch champion is campaigning a Ford Fiesta R5 on his Croatia Rally debut.
- Full coverage from the Croatia Rally will be available on WRC+ All Live here, including every stage broadcast as it happens as well as key interviews, features and expert analysis from the service park.
Finland
Italy
Hungary