Thierry Neuville maintains lead with Power Stage separating Croatia victory
12th April 2026Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville is on the cusp of his first victory of the 2026 season as the 2024 world champion maintains his lead in the Croatia Rally.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool
Only the power stage separates the 2024 Hyundai world champion from his first victory of the season, and the opportunity to put an end to Toyota’s early dominant run of victories.
Neuville has managed to keep himself out of trouble throughout the Croatian three-day rally, where others faltered, to stand one stage away from victory.
The Belgian took the rally lead from Toyota’s Sami Pajari on Saturday afternoon, after the youngster suffered a puncture on SS14, dropping over a minute in time to the Hyundai crew.
Going into the final day of the weekend, Neuville found himself with one minute and 14.5 seconds in hand over Toyota’s second-place crew, Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnson.
After three stages of Sunday’s four tests, the gap to the Toyota crew has only slightly increased by just under a second, now standing at one minute and 15.4 seconds.
However, it has been a strong showing by Toyota’s Oliver Solberg on the final day of the weekend, the Swede standing as the fastest driver on Super Sunday. The championship contender currently holds Sunday’s stage wins under his belt, with only the Power Stage still left to be determined.
Solberg leads the Super Sunday standings by 8.4 seconds over Evans, with M-Sport Ford’s Jon Armstrong in third, 30.1 seconds off the Swede’s pace. Neuville, on the other hand, is taking a cautious route on Sunday, occupying eighth overall in Sunday’s times.
The 14.56km Wolf Power Stage, Alan – Senj 2, will get underway at 13:15 local time (12:15pm BST).
Read more WRC here:
- Thierry Neuville takes rally lead from Pajari in Croatia
- What is the WRC Croatia Rally stage itinerary?
- Entry List: 2026 WRC Rally Islas Canarias
- Toyota experience differing conditions in testing ahead of Croatia Rally
- Takamoto Katsuta inherits Safari Rally Kenya lead after top three retire
- Solberg heads Safari Rally Kenya after a chaotic Saturday morning
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
