Rally Croatia - 3rd Day: Rovanpera grabs Croatia win from Tanak in Powerstage as late drama strikes Neuville



At the end of the final day of Rally Croatia, Kalle Rovanpera won eventually the round three of this year's World Rally Championship with Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville following him.


Kalle Rovanpera claims his second win in a row despite the fact that he lost the lead of Rally Croatia at the end of Stage 19 and dropped 29,8 seconds there as his tyres were not the ideal for the rainy forecast. However, he set the fastest time in Powertage and takes the five extra points from PS.


Ott Tanak finished in second position overall and was the fastest driver in Stage 19 when it was heavily raining there as his tyre choice was correct meaning that he was leading Rally Croatia for 1,4 seconds over Rovanpera at the end of the penultimate stage of the event. However, he was slower than Rovanpera in Powerstage, so he lost the lead of the event. He scored the extra four points in Powerstage for the driver's championship.


Thierry Neuville completes the podium and set the fastest time in Stage 18. He received a ten-second time penalty after checking one minute late at TC8E area as he used the combustion engine on a HEV Zone due to the fact that he could not switch into the hybrid power. In addition to that, the Belgian driver went into a ditch in Stage 20 and had to stop and reverse to get going again. After this incident, he faced intercom issues and Martijn Wydaeghe had to do hand signals.


Craig Breen dropped to fourth position overall at the end of Stage 18 while he had a spin in Stage 19. He scored only two extra points in Powerstage.


Elfyn Evans finished fifth and was the third fastest driver in Powerstage, so he took the three extra points from it.


Takamoto Katsuta follows Evans on the overall classification.


Esapekka Lappi, Gus Greensmith and Pierre-Louis Loubet are outside the top ten.


Lappi set the fastest time in Stage 17 while he overshot a junction in Stage 18 resulting in damaging the front right of his Yaris.


Watch below the stage times:









Watch the overall classification after the end of the event:




Photo Credits: Toyota

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