The World Rally Championship is set for a return to asphalt stages at the Croatia Rally after a gruelling weekend on gravel in Kenya last time out.
Kalle Rovanpera delivered a dominant drive in East Africa to claim victory by 1m37.8s at the Safari Rally, which is known to be the toughest event on WRC’s calendar.
The reigning, two-time world champion will not be present in Croatia though as he is only competing part-time in 2024.
And as he has competed in only two of this season’s three rounds so far, it is two other drivers who are neck and neck at the top of the championship.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville leads Elfyn Evans by six points with the Toyota driver then 15 ahead of third-placed M-Sport-Ford pilot Adrien Fourmaux, who has scored back-to-back podiums.
The two title protagonists finished off the podium in Kenya though, so will be keen to bounce back in Croatia which is an event Evans won last year.
Sebastien Ogier is another previous winner of the Croatia Rally and this weekend he will be back in the WRC service park for the first time since the Monaco season-opener.
The eight-time world champion is sharing Toyota’s third entry with Rovanpera, as Ogier is also competing part-time in 2024. Despite that, Ogier could still be a big threat in Croatia as he finished second at the Monte Carlo Rally.
Ott Tanak is another driver to look out after a disappointing campaign so far, despite the 2019 world champion entering this season as one of the favourites. The Hyundai driver is fourth in the championship and 34 points behind team-mate Neuville having failed to finish on the podium so far.
But, Tanak has finished on the Croatia Rally podium in each of the past two years so it may be the perfect event for him to rediscover his form after an underwhelming start to his Hyundai return.
As for his former team, M-Sport, it is lagging behind in the manufacturers’ championship as Fourmaux is its only competitor who is consistently at the front. As a result, M-Sport is currently 59 points behind Toyota in the championship with Hyundai trailing the Japanese manufacturer by only four points.
And many more twists and turns are expected to play out in the championship starting with the Croatia Rally this weekend - so here is how to watch it.
When is the Croatia Rally?
• Date: 18-21 April
• Start time: 5:30pm BST/6:30pm local time on Thursday 18 April 2024
The 2024 Croatia Rally starts on Thursday 18 April at 5:30pm in the United Kingdom and 6:30pm local time. However, that is when the opening ceremony begins as the first official stage does not start until the following day.
So, the opening stage for the Croatia Rally starts at 7:28am BST and 8:28am local time on Friday 19 April. Before the first stage is also shakedown on the 18 April at 8am BST and 9am local time, where drivers test various set-ups on their cars ahead of the weekend.
|
Date |
Leg |
Leg total |
Start time |
|
Thursday 18 April |
Shakedown |
2.27 miles |
8am BST/9am local time |
|
Thursday 18 April |
Ceremonial start |
N/A |
5:30pm BST/6:30pm local time |
|
Friday 19 April |
Stage 1 - Stage 4 |
37.20 miles |
7:28am BST/8:28am local time |
|
Friday 19 April |
Stage 5 - Stage 8 |
37.20 miles |
1:45pm BST/2:45pm local time |
|
Saturday 20 April |
Stage 9 - Stage 12 |
33.79 miles |
6:31am BST/7:31am local time |
|
Saturday 20 April |
Stage 13 - Stage 16 |
33.79 miles |
1:31pm BST/2:31pm local time |
|
Sunday 21 April |
Stage 17 - Stage 19 |
25.19 miles |
6:08am BST/7:08am local time |
|
Sunday 21 April |
Stage 20 (Power Stage) |
8.85 miles |
12:15pm BST/1:15pm local time |
How can I watch the WRC?
UK fans can watch the WRC via TNT Sports (formerly known as BT Sport) as it will live televise every round of the 2024 season having held the broadcasting rights since 2014.
It does mean the WRC is not free-to-air though as fans must buy a subscription in order to watch TNT. Currently, as part of a special offer, new customers can buy TNT for £16 a month in a deal which includes all four sport channels, Eurosport 1 and 2, as well as Discovery+. Discovery+ is TNT’s live streaming platform meaning rally’s top category can also be watched via a mobile or console.
The WRC can also be watched via Rally.TV, which broadcasts the European Rally Championship and World Rallycross Championship as well. Rally.tv offers two deals to new customers: an annual pass for £119.99 or a monthly pass for £12.99.
How can I watch the Croatia Rally?
TNT Sports will start its Croatia Rally coverage at 8am on Thursday for shakedown, before live broadcasting every official stage from Friday morning meaning the ceremonial start will not be shown.
Its Friday coverage will begin at 7:15am with early starts on Saturday and Sunday as well. However, due to the schedule, TNT Sports will be on and off with its coverage depending on each stage’s start time - for example, one programme will cover stages nine to 12 on Saturday morning before resuming coverage for stages 13 to 16 after a lunch break.
Rally.tv will follow the same format, however unlike TNT it will also live broadcast the ceremonial start as well as each official stage.
|
Date |
Leg |
Channel |
Coverage from |
|
Thursday 18 April |
Shakedown |
TNT Sports Extra 1 |
8am BST |
|
Friday 19 April |
Stage 1 - Stage 3 |
TNT Sports 1 |
7:15am BST |
|
Friday 19 April |
Stage 4 |
TNT Sports Extra 1 |
10:45am BST |
|
Friday 19 April |
Stage 5 - Stage 6 |
TNT Sports 3 |
1:30pm BST |
|
Friday 19 April |
Stage 7 - Stage 8 |
TNT Sports Extra 1 |
4:15pm BST |
|
Saturday 20 April |
Stage 9 - Stage 12 |
TNT Sports 2 |
6:15am BST |
|
Saturday 20 April |
Stage 13 - Stage 16 |
TNT Sports 3 |
1:30pm BST |
|
Sunday 21 April |
Stage 17 - Stage 19 |
TNT Sports 3 |
6am BST |
|
Sunday 21 April |
Stage 20 (Power Stage) |
TNT Sports 2 |
12pm BST |
|
Date |
Leg |
Channel |
Coverage from |
|
Thursday 18 April |
Shakedown |
Rally.tv |
8am BST |
|
Thursday 18 April |
Ceremonial start |
Rally.tv |
4:30pm BST |
|
Friday 19 April |
Stage 1 - Stage 4 |
Rally.tv |
7:15am BST |
|
Friday 19 April |
Stage 5 - Stage 8 |
Rally.tv |
1:30pm BST |
|
Saturday 20 April |
Stage 9 - Stage 12 |
Rally.tv |
6:15am BST |
|
Saturday 20 April |
Stage 13 - Stage 16 |
Rally.tv |
1:30pm BST |
|
Sunday 21 April |
Stage 17 - Stage 19 |
Rally.tv |
6am BST |
|
Sunday 21 April |
Stage 20 (Power Stage) |
Rally.tv |
12pm BST |
When can I watch the Croatia Rally highlights?
TNT Sports will broadcast a 30-minute highlight package on Friday (10:15pm), Saturday (11:30pm) and Sunday (11pm) night showing clips of that day’s action. Red Bull TV will also run a highlights programme at 9pm on those nights.
ITV4 will also be broadcasting a Croatia Rally highlights programme and it will air on Tuesday 23 April at 9pm while running for one hour.
Autosport also offer daily highlights, while a short package will be available via WRC’s official YouTube channel soon after each day has finished.
|
Date |
Channel |
Time |
|
Friday 19 April |
Red Bull TV |
9pm BST |
|
Friday 19 April |
TNT Sports 3 |
10:15pm BST |
|
Saturday 20 April |
Red Bull TV |
9pm BST |
|
Saturday 20 April |
TNT Sports 2 |
11:30pm BST |
|
Sunday 21 April |
Red Bull TV |
9pm BST |
|
Sunday 21 April |
TNT Sports 1 |
11pm BST |
|
Tuesday 23 April |
ITV4 |
9pm BST |
What is the route for the Croatia Rally?
The Croatia Rally consists of 20 special stages covering a total competitive distance of 176.02 miles on a tarmac surface. A morning stage will kick off proceedings on Friday with 14.68 miles of Krasic, which is a fairly rural village just 33.18 miles south-west of capital city Zagreb.
From there, the rally heads south to Jaskovo (5.89 miles) for stage two before Ravna Gora (6.29 miles) and Platak (10.33 miles) round off the morning. That route is then done in reverse on Friday afternoon before Saturday also features two identical loops of eight stages.
Smerovisce - 22.74 miles of Zagreb - kickstarts Saturday with 9.77 miles of the hilly region before the rally heads north towards the Slovenia border for stage nine’s Stojdraga (12.91 miles), but the route then goes south for Vinski Vrh (5.46 miles) and Pecurkovo Brdo (5.66 miles). That exact route will then play out on Saturday afternoon for what is a crucial part of the weekend as it is when the bulk of points are provisionally awarded.
Under a new rule for 2024, a sliding points scale of 18-15-13-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 is awarded at the end of Saturday, however a crew will only score those points if it finishes on the Sunday. The tally for a perfect rally remains 30 though, because a sliding scale of 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 is then used for Sunday with the weekend closing Power Stage offering bonus points of 5-4-3-2-1.
So, to get those points on Sunday drivers will first have to do 8.17 miles of Trakoscan before finishing the morning with Zagorska Sela (8.85 miles) and another run of Trakoscan. The event then finishes with another 8.85 miles of Zagorska Sela for the Power Stage.
Rally1 entry list for the Croatia Rally
|
Team |
Driver |
Co-driver |
|
Hyundai |
Ott Tanak |
Martin Jarveoja |
|
Andreas Mikkelsen |
Torstein Eriksen |
|
|
Thierry Neuville |
Martijn Wydaeghe |
|
|
M-Sport |
Gregoire Munster |
Louis Louka |
|
Adrien Fourmaux |
Alexandre Coria |
|
|
Toyota |
Sebastien Ogier |
Vincent Landais |
|
Takamoto Katsuta |
Aaron Johnston |
|
|
Elfyn Evans |
Scott Martin |
