Rovanperä Wrests Victory from Tänak

Kalle Rovanperä extends his championship lead with a lastgasp victory in the Croatia Rally

- Kurt Morris

ON A TIGHT CROATIA Rally shakedown stage, Toyota's Kalle Rovanperä beat Thierry Neuville by a mere tenth of a second. After the first loop over the 3.65 km On his third and final run, Rovanperä overtook Ott Tänak at the top of the leader board as the times gradually fell apart., clocking in at one minute and 52.5 seconds. While Rovanperä appeared to be having a good time on the Oki road, Elfyn Evans was not.

The Finn dominated the three-day rally in his Toyota GR Yaris from the start in the hills above Zagreb, only for a storm in the penultimate speed test to wipe out his hard-won lead.

Ott Tänak, who took a chance on softer Pirelli tyres to give his Hyundai i20 N a performance advantage on the flowing asphalt, took the lead by 1.4 seconds.