A New Chapter for a Legendary Round
After a one-year absence, Croatia Rally returned to the FIA World Rally Championship calendar in an entirely new format. The event base moved from Zagreb to the port city of Rijeka, with crews operating out of the historic Grobnik circuit and tackling more than 300 kilometres of special stages spread across four days. The route abandoned the inland farmland roads of previous editions in favour of fast, grippy stages along the Adriatic coast combined with technical tests winding through the mountains of Kvarner and Istria. The field also welcomed back Kajetan Kajetanowicz and co-driver Maciej Szczepaniak, the only Polish crew in the entry list.
The pre-event favourite was championship leader Elfyn Evans, a past winner in Croatia back in 2023, up against his Toyota teammates Oliver Solberg, Takamoto Katsuta (fresh off a Safari Rally win) and Sami Pajari. On the Hyundai side, hopes rested on Thierry Neuville, chasing redemption on a surface where the Korean manufacturer had historically struggled.
Day 1 (Friday): Favourites Fall Like Flies
The very first loop of stages showed just how unpredictable this edition would be. The new, slippery tarmac — covered in gravel and debris cut onto the racing line — took a heavy toll on the front-runners: both reigning championship leaders went off during the opening loop, and Oliver Solberg was forced to retire after Friday troubles. Katsuta wasn’t spared either, running off the road on SS6.
Amid the chaos, Sami Pajari was the most consistent driver on track. The Finn took the lead and held it through the end of the day, with Thierry Neuville breathing down his neck throughout. The fight for the top spots was razor-close: at the finish of the day’s eighth and final stage, Neuville trailed Pajari by just 1.1 seconds, while Katsuta set the fastest time of the stage, edging out his Hyundai rival by a handful of seconds. Adrien Fourmaux rounded out the leading group, 4.5 seconds behind the Japanese driver. The day closed with Pajari on top, Neuville right behind him, and Katsuta well within striking distance — while both championship leaders, Evans and Solberg, were left picking up the pieces after their Friday mistakes.
Day 2 (Saturday): A Lottery on Stage Fourteen
The second leg took the field east of the Grobnik base across eight tests — Platak, Ravna Gora–Skrad, Generalski Stol–Zdihovo, and Pećurkovo Brdo–Mrežnički Novaki, each run twice. The stages mixed fast, wide sections with tight, twisty ones, and — just like the day before — a common thread was the huge amount of dirt dragged onto the racing line by cars cutting corners.
For most of the day, Sami Pajari was firmly in control, managing a leaf-covered, ever-changing surface and holding a comfortable cushion — 12.4 seconds at the midday service. Everything unravelled on the treacherous fourteenth stage, where the roads had degraded to something resembling gravel. A wave of tyre failures swept through the field there, and Pajari’s lead was among the casualties.
Thierry Neuville capitalised, ending the day with a lead of more than a minute (1:14.5) over second-placed Takamoto Katsuta — the Japanese driver, despite a puncture of his own, kept his composure and climbed back to second, though he made no secret of his frustration with conditions he likened to a lottery. Oliver Solberg, back in action after Friday’s retirement, showed blistering pace, winning four consecutive stages (nine through twelve) before a puncture on stage thirteen ended his run. Elfyn Evans closed out the day with a stage win of his own — a bittersweet moment after his earlier troubles.
In WRC2, Yohan Rossel remained at the front of the class, sitting fifth overall. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak were eighth in the WRC2 Challenger category.
After two days of competition, the standings looked like this: Neuville held a commanding lead of over a minute ahead of Katsuta, while the battle for the remaining podium spots — with Pajari and Solberg very much in the mix — promised to stay tight right to the finish. Little did anyone know that Sunday’s finale would bring an even more dramatic twist.
WRC2: The Rossel Brothers Take Charge
The secondary category delivered its own share of drama across the first two days. Léo Rossel set the early pace, leading WRC2 at the midpoint of Friday’s morning loop while sitting an impressive seventh overall, with Eric Camilli and Roope Korhonen completing the class podium places behind him. His younger brother Yohan briefly took over the class lead later on Friday, and by the end of the day the two Rossels were locked in a close, family battle at the front of Rally2 machinery, with Nikolay Gryazin’s Lancia also in the mix.
Saturday’s punishing conditions reshuffled the order once again. By the end of day two, Yohan Rossel had emerged as the WRC2 leader, sitting an excellent fifth overall in the general classification — a remarkable result given the carnage among the Rally1 frontrunners. Léo Rossel remained firmly in the fight for second in class. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak, driving in their first outing of the 2026 season, sat eighth in the WRC2 Challenger sub-class after two days, still in the hunt for a points-paying finish.
WRC3 and Junior WRC: Overshadowed by the Rally1 Drama
Croatia Rally 2026 also hosted the WRC3 and Junior WRC categories, run as part of the same event — with the Junior WRC classification awarding bonus points for every stage won, adding an extra layer of intensity for the category’s young talents. However, the sheer volume of incidents among the Rally1 and Rally2 frontrunners dominated the available live coverage on both days, leaving WRC3 and Junior WRC results largely in the background of the day-by-day reporting. What is clear is that, like the categories above them, the entry-level classes had to contend with exactly the same treacherous conditions — debris-covered tarmac, unpredictable grip, and a high risk of tyre damage — that caused so much chaos further up the order.
