Takamoto Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston secured victory at Croatia Rally 2026 after a dramatic twist on the final Wolf Power Stage, where long-time leaders Thierry Neuville Martijn Wydaeghe crashed out. Holding a lead of over a minute, Neuville went off just 3.5 kilometres into the stage after struggling with understeer, handing Katsuta a stunning win. Despite the unexpected outcome, the Toyota driver claimed his second consecutive WRC victory and moved into the championship lead by seven points after four rounds. Katsuta admitted the circumstances were bittersweet but praised his team, while Neuville apologised for the costly error that ended his chances of becoming the first non-Toyota winner of Croatia Rally.
“To win is quite amazing,” the Japanese driver said at the finish in the Adriatic coastal town of Opatija this afternoon. “Of course this is not the way we wanted to win. Still happy for the team, bringing good points and thanks to the huge support from them. I’m very sorry for Thierry and Martijn and the Hyundai guys, hopefully they finish. I try not to think about the championship, I just focus my job. There are many things to improve myself. Only what I have is the best car and the best co-driver and this is the only reason why I am here.”
Behind the winners, Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen secured another strong result in second place, continuing his consistent 2026 form while Hayden Paddon and John Kennard sealed his first WRC podium since 2018. Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson made an impressive recovery from an early crash to win both the Wolf Power Stage and Super Sunday classification, collecting maximum bonus points. Elfyn Evans, another early retiree, also returned strongly alongside co-driver Scott Martin to finish second in both bonus categories, although he lost the championship lead to Katsuta. Adrien Fourmaux’s challenging weekend continued, as he retired on Saturday after a heavy crash but restarted on Sunday. However, a puncture on the Power Stage limited his Super Sunday result, leaving him and co-driver Alexandre Coria behind M-Sport Ford’s Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne, the Croatia Rally winners in 2025 when the event counted as the deciding round of the FIA European Rally Championship.
In WRC2, Yohan Rossel and Arnaud Dunand claimed victory for Lancia marking the brand’s first win since its return to international rallying while his yonger brother Léo Rossel alongside co-driver Guillaume Mercoiret finished second and claimed the outright WRC2 points lead. Nikolay Gryazin and Konstantin Aleksandrov completed the podium after recovering from earlier issues.
“Thank you all my team,” Yohan Rossel said. “Sometimes it’s hard because you have a dream and you cannot do what you want. But I have a great team behind me, they pushed me a lot to keep the concentration, the motivation to stay in WRC2.”
Viliam Prodan and Marko Stiperski finished as the top Croatian crew in 18th overall after they battled back from earlier punctures. “Our interest was to go to the finish line,” Prodan said. “The support is perfect in Croatia, thanks to the Croatian fans, perfect to be here in my homeland.”
FIA Junior WRC Championship honours went to Ali Türkkan and Burak Erdener after a puncture delayed early leader and round one winner Calle Carlberg on stage 11.
Following another successful edition based around Rijeka and across multiple Croatian regions, the WRC season continues with Rally Islas Canarias taking place from April 23-26.
