WRC Croatia Rally

After a one-year break, the Croatia Rally race of the World Rally Championship (WRC) returns to Croatian tracks. The 5th edition of the WRC Croatia Rally from April 9th ​​to 12th brings 20 special stages from Karlovac to Senj with a ceremonial start on Rijeka's Korzo and six Croatian crews at the start.

Croatia has had the opportunity to organize a World Championship run for the first time in 2021, which took place in Zagreb and the surrounding area. Following the excellent assessment of the overall impression, the organizer was given the opportunity to sign a three-year contract to organize a World Rally Championship event. 

WRC (World Rally Championship) is, along with F1, the most popular motorsports competition in the world, which is regularly broadcast by over 250 TV stations and watched by about 850 million people worldwide.

The WRC Croatia Rally runs through four Croatian counties: Istria, Karlovac, Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Lika-Senj county.

According to the official list, 51 crews from 23 countries will participate in the competition. The drivers will face a total of 20 demanding special stages that will be driven on attractive sections.

Nine elite crews will compete in the strongest Rally1 category. Elfyn Evans from Toyota Gazoo Racing will arrive in Croatia as the leader in the championship, while serious competition will be represented by the young Oliver Solberg, who already celebrated at Rallye Monte-Carlo this season, and Takamoto Katsuta, the winner of Safari Rally Kenya. Current champion Thierry Neuville and drivers Adrien Fourmaux and Hayden Paddon will appear from the Hyundai Motorsport camp. Joshua McErlean and Jon Armstrong from M-Sport Ford, as well as Sami Pajari from Toyota, will fight for the top positions.

The performances of Croatian drivers will also attract special attention from the domestic audience. In the Rally2 class, Eris Marotti and Viliam Prodan will compete in Škoda Fabia Rally2 vehicles. In the Rally4 class, Vjekoslav Čičko will compete in a Peugeot 208 Rally4, Igor Mandić in a Ford Fiesta Rally4, Igor Tomljanović in a Renault Clio Rally4 and Tomas Hrvatin also in a Ford Fiesta Rally4.

The ceremonial start of the rally will take place on April 9th ​​on Rijeka's Korzo, while the service park will be located at the Grobnik Motor Racing Circuit. The competition will culminate on Sunday with the finish at the Nehaj Fortress in Senj, while the winners will be announced at the ceremonial finish in Opatija.

This year's edition brings a special challenge because the competition is being held for the first time in the Kvarner and Croatian Littoral regions, connecting the mountainous hinterland and the sea coast.

 Cover: WRC Croatia

                   Uroš Modlić