The Latest Breaking News from Sebastien Ogier

The world rally champion finished fourth on Croatia’s asphalt roads after a difficult event that was hampered by a lack of outright pace on Friday and a wheel failure.

Evans and co-driver Scott Martin delivered a faultless drive to score a first win since Rally Finland in October 2021 by a margin of 27.0 seconds from Tanak on Croatia’s challenging asphalt stages.

The breach occurred on stage 2 when the Toyota pairing were forced to change a wheel after hitting a compression while leading the rally.

Neuville held a 16.1s rally lead on Friday morning after early leader Sebastien Ogier suffered a wheel failure on his Toyota during stage 2, but the Belgian faced a stern challenge from Toyota’s Evans in the afternoon.

The reigning world champion won last year’s visit to Croatia after coming through a thrilling final stage showdown with then Hyundai driver Ott Tanak.

The WRC heads to Croatia in a sombre mood following the death of Hyundai driver Craig Breen, who succumbed to injuries sustained in a testing crash ahead of the event last Thursday.

Sebastien Loeb hasn’t been snapped up by a World Rally Championship team for a part-time drive this year, but the phone may already be ringing again after his latest triumph. The nine-time world champion once again reminded the rallying fraternity of his supreme talent last Sunday by adding the Azores…

Given Max Verstappen’s speed throughout the Jeddah weekend, many still expected him to be a threat for victory despite starting 15th. But, while the reigning champion easily made his way into second, team-mate Perez managed to stay out of reach to record his fifth F1 win.

The Toyota driver finished a distant fourth in the first gravel round of season last weekend, 1m55.3s adrift of rally winner and team-mate Sebastien Ogier.