After an action-packed opening day of the Croatia Rally, Sami Pajari leads a tightly contested battle, holding a 13.7s advantage over Thierry Neuville, with Takamoto Katsuta just 0.9s further back in third after eight stages.
Pajari, chasing his first WRC victory, showed strong pace throughout the day, extending his lead despite sustained pressure from Neuville, who responded with multiple stage wins to stay firmly in contention. Katsuta remains close behind, keeping the fight for the podium and victory wide open heading into the weekend.
“The competition is so tough that you need to push,” said Pajari. “The morning was not so straightforward, but this afternoon was really cool. It’s only one day done but it was really good, and it has been a pleasure to drive today. It’s good news [to be leading the rally] but it’s such a long way to go.”
Behind the leading trio, Hayden Paddon holds fourth place, while Adrien Fourmaux completes the top five despite losing time early on due to a puncture. Josh McErlean also dropped out of contention after stopping to change a damaged tyre late in the day.
The rally delivered major drama from the outset, with two key contenders eliminated early. Oliver Solberg crashed out on the opening stage, while championship leader Elfyn Evans initially led the rally after two stage wins before retiring following a pacenote-related accident. Jon Armstrong also exited after a promising start.
In WRC2, Yohan Rossel leads overnight ahead of Nikolay Gryazin and Alejandro Cachón, with the category also producing a closely fought battle.
Saturday’s leg features eight stages covering 115.96 kilometres across Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Karlovac counties.
