Sami Pajari remains in the lead at Croatia Rally 2026 and is on course for his maiden WRC victory, but Thierry Neuville stays firmly in contention after reducing the gap to 12.4 seconds following Saturday morning’s loop.
Pajari delivered a clean and controlled run through stages 9-12, while Neuville applied constant pressure and briefly closed to within 11.8 seconds before a mistake on the final stage of the loop allowed Pajari to extend his advantage again.
“It’s feeling good,” Toyota-powered Pajari said ahead of the remote technical zone in Karlovac. “If I saw correctly (my time on SS12) it’s quicker again than Thierry so that’s good. Let’s see what the second pass will bring us. I would not like to take stupid risks but in some places you still need to.”
Takamoto Katsuta holds third place, 25.1 seconds off the lead, after a cautious approach due to a lack of confidence. Hayden Paddon sits fourth, while Adrien Fourmaux’s rally ended after an off 7.2 kilometres into stage 12, heavily damaging the rear of his Hyundai i20 N Rally1, forcing his retirement. This promoted WRC2 leader Yohan Rossel into fifth overall, ahead of Nikolay Gryazin, as several drivers in the category lost time due to incidents.
Returning after Friday retirements, Oliver Solberg and Elfyn Evans rejoined the rally, with Solberg setting the fastest times on all four morning stages. Josh McErlean also faced drama, losing time after smoke appeared in his cockpit due to an electrical issue.
In Junior WRC, Ali Türkkan leads after early pacesetter Calle Carlberg dropped back. The rally continues this afternoon with repeated stages.
