Two years after his last World Rally victory in Finland in 2021 , Elfyn Evans has won yet another competition in Croatia. However, the British driver's victory in this rally was greatly facilitated by the misfortunes of his competitors. Indeed, Thierry Neuville fell to the top of the standings and Sébastien Ogier was penalized 70 seconds for various infractions.

Despite this, Evans demonstrated great speed throughout the event which was marked by a tribute to Craig Breen , the Irish driver who had died the previous week in a practice crash for the event.

Ogier missed the podium due to a 70 second penalty

From the start of the rally, it seemed obvious that the battle for victory would be between Neuville and Evans , given that Sébastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä both suffered punctures on Friday. Team Hyundai 's Neuville led the rally and even had the chance to take the lead in the world standings, but this was compromised by a tragic event.

Indeed, on Saturday, Neuville made a mistake that forced him to retire. He lost control of his car and crashed into the trees, ending his chances of victory. It was then that Evans took the lead of the rally, with only Ott Tänak in ambush.

Tänak 's hopes were short-lived as he soon ran into trouble with the steering of his Ford , causing him to stop in the middle of the stage and lose a lot of time. Eventually, Tänak managed to reach the end of the stage after the repairs were done, finishing second. Although this will keep him in contention for the title, his podium was the result of several setbacks.

Despite a promising comeback, Ogier was penalized 60 seconds for not having buckled his belt when he joined a stage. In addition, ten other drivers were penalized for missing a control. As a result, Ogier finished fifth and failed to reach the podium.

Esapekka Lappi , Hyundai's first driver, finally made it to the podium while fishing. He obtained a third place which he dedicated to his teammate Breen, with whom he should have shared stages of this rally. Despite his efforts, world champion Rovanperä remained fourth and has yet to claim a victory in 2023.

Hold on tight to that overnight advance! #WRC  #WRCLive  #CroatiaRally  pic.twitter.com/4NW5mBwd4g

– World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC)  April 22, 2023

Takamoto Katsuta and Pierre-Louis Loubet are sixth and seventh respectively, while the top three in the WRC2 class completed the points zone. Yohan Rossel , on his Citroën , took victory in this category, followed by the Skoda of Nikolay Gryazin and Emil Lindholm .

Results Rally Croatia 2023

General classification WRC

1. Sebastien OGIER (Toyota-FRA), 69 points

2. Elfyn EVANS (Toyota-GBR), 69 points

3. Kalle ROVANPERÄ (Toyota-FIN), 68 points

4. Ott TÄNAK (Ford-EST), 65 points

5. Thierry NEUVILLE (Hyundai-BEL), 58 points