“Clearly not. It’s the holidays and I’m certainly not going to cancel my vacation for a…” rally ! » Sébastien Ogier He didn’t hesitate when asked about his possible participation in the Rally Croatia (April 9-12). The Frenchman will skip the event, which is making its return to the calendar, just as he did in Sweden. WRC after a year’s absence.
The driver from Gap will be absent and will miss out on the points he so desperately needs, as he sits in 6th place in the championship, 40 points behind Elfyn Evans, following his retirement in Kenya. The Welshman, the overall leader, will attempt to win a rally he added to his palmarès in 2023, but he will face stiff competition from his teammates Takamoto Katsuta, winner of the Safari Rally, Oliver Solberg, and Sami Pajari.
At Hyundai, Adrien fourmaux et Thierry Neuville They will be joined by Hayden Paddon, who already competed in the Monte Carlo Rally earlier this year. Finally, M-Sport Josh McErlean and Jon Armstrong will be competing, as in the other rounds of the championship. The battle between the big names will be fierce in WRC2, with the Rossel brothers, Yohan and Léo, on the starting grid, along with Nikolay Gryazin, Roberto Daprà, Alejandro Cachón, and Andreas Mikkelsen. Among the favorites, only Gus Greensmith and Robert Virves, winner in Kenya, are missing from the lineup.
On the French side, we should note the presence of Éric Camilli, Arthur Pelamourgues, and Pablo Sarrazin. The event, which will begin on April 9th, will obviously be marked by the memory of Craig Breen, who died suddenly in 2023 during testing before the Rally of Croatia.