Patience pays off for Ogier
THE 2024 Croatia Rally was a thrilling three-horse race that went to Sebastien Ogier on a dramatic final day of FIA World Rally Championship action.
Having battled since the opening stage two days earlier, Thierry Neuville led the way by just 2.6s over Elfyn Evans with Ogier just a further 9s away with just three stages to go.
But the rally turned on its head on SS18 when both Evans and Neuville made extremely costly mistakes.
Neuville drifted into a grass bank and lost 23.3s, while significant damage to the i20N’s rear wing meant he had little to fight with across the final two stages.
The Hyundai driver revealed a late pace note proved costly.
“Definitely there is a frustration,” he told Autosport.
“The stage (where the incident occurred) was really tricky but what happened, happened.
“I tried my best to avoid it, but we were just far too late and when I got the pace note I immediately hit the brakes, but the corner was much tighter and there was nothing I could do.”
Meanwhile, Evans clipped a bank with the left rear, sending his GR Yaris into a spin and costing the Welshman 19.6s.
He lamented his choice to run the hard tyre.
“For me, there’s a feeling of disappointment,” Evans said.
“We were too optimistic with our tyre choice (on Sunday) and with the hard tyre, it was a struggle in the second stage.
“This corner (where we spun) was quite full of mud and the rear came around.
“It was just a slippery place, hit the rear hard on the left and it just took off and spun the car unfortunately.”
As a result of his rivals’ misfortune, Ogier stormed into the overall lead and top four finishes in the final three stages ensured the Frenchman took his first win of his partial 2024 campaign and 59th overall by 9.7s over Evans.
Image: Red Bull Content Pool
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