stringtranslate.com

2021 Croatia Rally

The 2021 Croatia Rally (also known as the Rally Croatia 2021) was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 22 and 25 April 2021.[2] It marked the forty-fifth running of the Croatia Rally, and the first time the event has been run as a round of the World Rally Championship. The event was the third round of the 2021 World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and World Rally Championship-3. It was also the first round of the 2021 Junior World Rally Championship.[3] The 2021 event was based in Zagreb in the City of Zagreb Region and was contested over twenty special stages totalling 300.32 km (186.61 mi) in competitive distance.[1]

Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia won the rally with a 0.6-second advantage over teammate Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin, which was the third closest winning margin overall after the 2011 Jordan Rally and the 2007 Rally New Zealand.[4] Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen won the World Rally Championship-2 category,[5] while Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak won the World Rally Championship-3 category.[6] The British crew of Jon Armstrong and Phil Hall was the winner in the junior class.[7]

Background

Championship standings prior to the event

Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen entered the round with a four-point lead over Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe. Reigning World Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were third, another four points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT held an eleven-point lead over defending manufacturers' champions Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, followed by M-Sport Ford WRT.

In the World Rally Championship-2 standings, Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene held a twenty-four-point lead ahead of Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively, with Adrien Fourmaux and Renaud Jamoul in third. In the teams' championship, Toksport WRT and Movisport co-led the standings, with M-Sport Ford WRT in third.

In the World Rally Championship-3 standings, the crew of Yohan Rossel and Benoît Fulcrand and of Teemu Asunmaa and Marko Salminen both led championships, with Egon Kaur and Silver Simm in third, trailing by five points.

Entry list

The following crews were entered into the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, its support categories, the World Rally Championship-2 and World Rally Championship-3, Junior World Rally Championship and privateer entries that were not registered to score points in any championship. Twelve entries for the World Rally Championship were received, as were seven in the World Rally Championship-2 and fifteen in the World Rally Championship-3. A further eight crews entered the Junior World Rally Championship in Ford Fiesta Rally4s.

Route

Itinerary

All dates and times are CEST (UTC+2).

Report

World Rally Cars

Neuville and Wydaeghe led the rally at the end of the first day, while Rovanpera crashed on the initial stage.[9] Ogier took the 600th stage win of his World Rally Championship career.[10]

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

World Rally Championship-2

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

World Rally Championship-3

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

Junior World Rally Championship

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

Notes

  1. ^ Nikolay Gryazin is Russian, but he competes as a neutral competitor using the designation RAF (Russian Automobile Federation), as the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a ban on Russia competing at World Championships. The ban was implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency in response to state-sponsored doping program of Russian athletes.
  2. ^ Konstantin Aleksandrov is Russian, but he competes as a neutral competitor using the designation RAF (Russian Automobile Federation), as the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a ban on Russia competing at World Championships. The ban was implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency in response to state-sponsored doping program of Russian athletes.
  3. ^ Under the Sporting Regulations, each car competing in the World Rally Championship-3 is entered under the driver's name.

References

  1. ^ a b c "WRC CR2021 – Overview rally maps" (PDF). rally-croatia.com. Croatia Rally. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  2. ^ "Croatia and Estonia named in 2021 WRC calendar". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 9 October 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  3. ^ "Five rounds named in junior WRC calendar". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Ogier clinches stunning Croatia Rally win in nail-biting finale". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 25 April 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  5. ^ "WRC2: Østberg makes dream return". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 25 April 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  6. ^ "WRC3: Kajetanowicz arrives in style". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 25 April 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  7. ^ "Junior WRC: Armstrong seals maiden victory". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 25 April 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d "Entry List Croatia Rally 2021". ewrc-results.com. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  9. ^ Garton, Nick (23 April 2021). "WRC Rally Croatia: Neuville leads from Ogier after Rovanpera crashes". Autosport. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  10. ^ Craig, Jason (23 April 2021). "Ogier "learning to appreciate" stage wins after reaching 600 at Rally Croatia". Autosport. Retrieved 23 April 2021.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2021 Croatia Rally.