WRC Croatia Rally 2026: Sami Pajari leads after his teammates’ crashes

– For the first time since 2024, the World Rally Championship (WRC) is visiting Croatia again. The first stage was driven on Friday, making the asphalt rally on the Balkan Peninsula one of the few events on the 2026 WRC calendar with only three instead of four competition days.

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And the morning of the Friday stage in particular was quite intense. Right on the first special stage of the day (SS1), Oliver Solberg put his Toyota Yaris into a ditch and had to retire. On SS3, it then caught his Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans, who had started as the championship leader and had led the Croatia Rally after the first two SSs.

After eight special stages, none of the veterans are leading overnight, but rather Sami Pajari. The Toyota youngster from Finland enters the Saturday stage with a lead of 13,7 seconds over his closest pursuer. This first pursuer is Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), closely followed by Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota).

Oliver Solberg and Elfyn Evans with early crashes

Oliver Solberg caused the first stir with his crash, which occurred just 4,8 kilometers after the start of the rally. After brushing a rock face on the left, the Swede’s Toyota came to a standstill in a ditch on the right side of the road.

Spectators rushed from the forest and tried to push the car back onto the road, but without success. The Yaris remained stuck in the ditch. For Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson, Friday was over early.

“This morning was the first time I was out with this car on the hard tires, and I really struggled with the feeling. I had understeer first and then lightly clipped a rock face with the rear,” said a visibly disappointed Solberg. “It’s a shame. I live and breathe this sport day in, day out. It’s all I know in life. When things don’t go to plan, it’s hard to take.”

Solberg’s Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans initially took advantage of being first on the road. He won the first two special stages and built up a cushion of 15,9 seconds. But on SS3, the first pass of the 23,8-kilometer longest stage of the rally, Evans went off the road in a right-hand corner at high speed.

“We were caught out,” said Evans. “The corner was a bit tighter than expected, we were much too fast and unfortunately crashed into the trees. It’s very disappointing. It was obviously a strong start and everything was going well, but unfortunately it didn’t end so well.”

Evans and co-driver Scott Martin remained uninjured in their crash, just like Solberg and Edmondson about two hours earlier. But the British duo, who arrived as championship leaders, must now shift their hopes for WRC points in Croatia solely to Sunday.

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Hyundai with special livery and technical updates

Hyundai is competing in the Croatia Rally not only with a special livery in memory of Craig Breen, who died in an accident three years ago. The team also has something new technically. In an effort to stop Toyota’s dominance in the current season, the i20 Ns feature new parts in the area of the dampers and the differential this weekend. These are adjustments that do not require an Evo joker.

Neuville, who like leader Sami Pajari set three fastest SS times on Friday, spent most of the day in a duel with Takamoto Katsuta for second position. Behind Pajari, the Belgian and the Japanese driver enter the Saturday stage separated by less than a second.

Neuville’s Hyundai teammate Adrien Fourmaux lost more than a minute in the morning due to a front-right puncture. He is currently ranked fifth behind Hayden Paddon in another Hyundai i20 N.

M-Sport with different tire choice – and two punctures

At M-Sport Ford, the decision was made in the morning to go with soft tires, unlike Toyota and Hyundai. The British team initially coped well with this with its young drivers Jon Armstrong and Josh McErlean. Armstrong was running third at one point, McErlean fifth.

But on SS4, the final stage of the morning, Armstrong hit an embankment at high speed. Shortly before, he had suffered a front-left puncture. With the second incident, his day was also over prematurely. Teammate McErlean suffered a puncture on the penultimate stage of the afternoon (SS7).

Behind the top 3 – Sami Pajari, Thierry Neuville, Takamoto Katsuta – as well as Hayden Paddon and Adrien Fourmaux, Lancia driver Yohan Rossel, as the leader of the WRC2 standings, is currently in the top 6 of the rally classification.

The Saturday stage in Croatia includes SS9 to SS16, before the rally concludes on Sunday with the final four of a total of 20 special stages.

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