Paris (AFP)
For the very first time, the World Rally Championship takes place in Croatia, a new fast asphalt theater in the Balkan Mountains for Sébastien Ogier (Toyota), Ott Tänak (Hyundai) and the others.
Two long months later, the WRC restarted.
After the French Sébastien Ogier, winner at Monte-Carlo and the Estonian Ott Tänak, imperial on the snow of Finland at the end of February, who will win on the Croatian roads from Friday to Sunday?
New playing field, Croatia is the 34th country to host a WRC rally.
On the program, 300.32 kilometers of specials in the mountain ranges around Zagreb, the host city.
First 100% asphalt meeting since August 2019 in Germany, after various cancellations in 2020 due to the pandemic, Croatia offers an unprecedented challenge.
- Between Alsace and Bulgaria -
"It doesn't look like anything else, it's Rally Croatia and it's not going to be easy," said Tänak, 2019 world champion.
"There are really a lot of ropes", details another Hyundai driver, the Belgian Thierry Neuville, in reference to the many corners that can be cut.
"All the stages are different, some are fast, others are very bumpy, especially on Saturday the N.10 (out of twenty, editor's note)", at the Slovenian border, nicknamed the "special with a thousand turns".
Ogier also announces "parts in undergrowth, very narrow, and certain sections which could remind a little Alsace (Rally WRC from 2010 to 2014, note), with the many ropes which bring back mud, especially if it raining ".
But, according to the 37-year-old pilot, the Croatian asphalt also looks "a bit like what we found in Bulgaria, even if it's an old memory (2010, note): quite smooth with little grip" .
- The club of five -
In the standings before this third round, it is the Finnish phenomenon Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) who leads the debates.
After his 4th place in the south of France and his 2nd in the Arctic Rally at home, Rovanperä is at 20 the youngest leader of the world championship.
The son of the former driver Harri Rovanperä is ahead of the experienced Neuville, 3rd in the first two races, then Ogier, unhappy in Finland, Elfyn Evans (Toyota) and Tänak.
All in just 12 points.
A small gap, logical after only two rallies, but which could last: "In terms of pure performance, I don't see big gaps between the five of us. I don't have a crystal ball but on paper it is clearly possible that it remains tight until the end ", estimates Ogier.
- Land in sight -
To see behind if M-Sport Ford, third manufacturer, in the hard since the start of the season, during these two months of break his Fiesta to enter the dance.
Because after Croatia, the WRC accelerates with the season on gravel and, from the end of May to the end of July, five rallies on this surface (Portugal, Italy, Kenya, Estonia, Finland).
And as the championship leader leads the way on the first day of a racing weekend, "good luck for whoever is in the lead after Croatia," warns Ogier.
"On gravel, the first and second in the championship are as if eliminated from the battle by starting at the forefront", explains the seven-time world champion, while "the asphalt offers a fairer playing field, it is better for the beauty of the fight ".
Does this mean that Ogier is not aiming for victory in Croatia?
"A victory is always better, but that would undoubtedly be synonymous with a hassle behind so good ... I tend to put things into perspective. I don't have the absolute pressure of the result because the road is still very long".
For another Frenchman, Adrien Fourmaux, the road is just beginning: the 25-year-old Northerner, usually entered in WRC2, is starting in the premier class with M-Sport.
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