Citroën pair supreme in WRC2 on Friday in Croatia

Citroën pairing Nikolay Gryazin and Yohan Rossel were in a class of their own at Croatia Rally on Friday, opening a commanding lead of more than two minutes over the remainder of the WRC2 field.

Bulgarian Gryazin, making just his second FIA World Rally Championship start in a Citroën C3 Rally2, set the tone early by going 10.8sec faster than team-mate Rossel on the rally’s opening test, leaving his rivals playing catch-up over the next seven stages.

He would complete Friday with seven stage wins, whilst Rossel, also on his second start of the season, claimed one stage win and is well-placed to match his Rallye Monte-Carlo podium finish, 31.1sec behind Gryazin.

Rallye Monte-Carlo runner-up Pepe López is making his Croatian debut this weekend and, despite his limited knowledge of the broken asphalt stages, the Spaniard positioned his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 comfortably in the third spot on the podium. He ended day one 20.1sec clear of Nicolas Ciamin, who is locked in a see-saw battle with fifth-placed Lauri Joona.

Finn Joona, driving a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, had the early advantage over Ciamin in his Hyundai i20 N Rally2, creating a gap of 11.2sec by the end of the second stage. But Ciamin slowly chipped away at the deficit and by Friday night had turned it into a 20.1sec advantage.

Sixth-placed Evyind Brynildsen, who last competed in the WRC in a previous model Fabia at EKO Acropolis Rally in September 2022, appeared at ease in his upgraded Fabia RS Rally2. He held a 1min 2sec advantage over 2023 FIA Junior European Rally Championship runner-up Roberto Dapra, who is making the leap to Rally2 machinery for this season.

Rounding out the top eight was a frustrated Emil Lindholm. The 2022 WRC2 champion was forced to stop and change a tyre on SS1, handing his podium hopes the earliest of blows as he finished the opening test in 13th spot. He spent the remainder of the day working his Hyundai i20 N Rally2 back up the leaderboard and, despite a spin early on SS6, was able to make up five positions.