Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston win Rally Croatia after final stage drama

Meanwhile, Kesh driver Jon Armstrong (Ford Puma Rally1), who was co-driven by Shane Byrne, collected six championship points with a fine performance on Sunday's four stages.

Sun, 12 Apr, 2026 - 17:23

Martin Walsh

Final stage drama gifted Japan's Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) and his Tyrone co-driver Aaron Johnston victory in Rally Croatia - their second successive WRC victory in a few weeks and the lead of the series.

They had finished the Power Stage (final stage) and seemingly settled for second place as the Hyundai WRT of Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe, who began the stage with a lead of one minute and 15.4s made its way through 16.26km test.

But disaster struck for the Belgian pair - who seemed set for a first win of the season - when their Hyundai slid on loose gravel, clipped a concrete block between the stage and an escape road that damaged the front-right suspension.

Neuville, advised by his team manager to stop, then carried out temporary repairs for almost twenty minutes and subsequently retired after the finish line.

Meanwhile, Kesh driver Jon Armstrong (Ford Puma Rally1), who was co-driven by Shane Byrne, collected six championship points with a fine performance on Sunday's four stages where he finished third in the day's classification along with third on the Power Stage.

His teammate Josh McErlean (co-driven by Eoin Tracy) finished fifteenth overall - both were left to reflect on what could have been were it not for punctures and other issues but both will be encouraged by their performances when everything was going according to plan.

In the Junior WRC, Cavan's Craig Rahill (Ford Fiesta Rally3) and co-driver, Conor Smith took the final podium spot with a strong performance. They began the penultimate leg in third but moved into second place after they won the longest stage (SS11) of the loop to claim their second stage win of the season.

However, a series of stage wins put Sweden's Calle Carlberg back into second behind Turkey's Ali Turkkan in what transpired to be an unchanged top three.

On Saturday, Pajari, who led from the third stage of the opening leg was 12.7s ahead of Neuville at the beginning of SS14, but just 3.6km into the stage he had to stop and change a punctured wheel, the time lost saw him slip to third - a minute 35s behind new leader Neuville.

Returning under Super Rally, Oliver Solberg (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) won all bar two of the day's eight stages, a puncture on SS13 halting the run as teammates Takamoto and Elfyn Evans completed the Toyota lock-out of stage wins.

Neuville ended the day with a commanding 1m. 14.5s advantage over Katsuta, who commented on the gravely nature of the stages. “It was a proper lottery. Even on gravel rallies we don’t have that many stones.”

Growing in confidence, Armstrong set a string of top times including second on SS11 and 16 - on the latter he was just 1.9s shy of stage winner Evans. Armstrong's Ford Puma suffered a front right wheel puncture on SS14 and lost time when he had to change the wheel. His performance on the final day left him to conclude; "I was happy with our pace, I'm very disappointed with mistake I made on Friday."

During Saturday, McErlean and co-driver Eoin Treacy had to stop and extinguish a fire on SS10 while punctures on SS13 and SS14 interrupted their progress. At the finish, McErlean commented; “After midday Friday we thought we were in a good position for a clean rally, but it didn't go that way."

Former champion British rally champion Osian Pryce (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) took a strong victory at the Severn Valley Rally, the opening round of this year's campaign in Wales. Winning five of the day's seven stages he finished 19s ahead of the similar car Meirion Evans to complete a 1-2 for the MEM Rally Team.

Evans was Pryce’s closest challenger all day as Scottish driver Garry Pearson (Ford Fiesta Rally2), who spun on the opening stages, recovered to finish third overall. Max McRae (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) was close to Pryce on the first loop until a puncture on the fourth stage that necessitated wheel change cost him over two minutes, he finished fourth.

Elsewhere, Galway's Aoife Raftery (Ford Fiesta Rally3) had a class win enroute to sixth overall.

In preparation for this weekend's Andalucia Rally in Cordoba, the opening round of the European Rally Championship, Moira's William Creighton (Citroen C3 Rally2) finished seventh overall in Rally La Llana in Spain.

Rally Croatia (Round 4 World Rally Championship) Rijeka

1. T. Katsuta/A. Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+2h. 51m. 15.8s

2. S. Pajari/M. Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+20.7s

3. H. Paddon/J. Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally10+2m. 07.7s

4. Y. Rossel/A. Dunand (Lancia Ypsilon HF Rally2)+5m. 19.9s

5. L. Rossel/G. Mercoiret (Citroën C3 Rally2)+5m. 58.7s

6. N. Gryazin/K. Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon HF Rally2)+6m. 17.8s

15. J. McErlean/E. Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1)+12m. 23.1s

19. C. Rahill/C. Smith (Ford Fiesta Rally3)+19m. 13.6s

32. J. Armstrong/S. Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1):49m. 312.1s.

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings (After Round 4)

1. T. Katsuta 81pts