Photographer’s Close Call: Near Miss at World Rally Championship in Croatia

During the “shakedown” speed stage of the World Rally Championship (WRC) in Croatia, the photographer seriously risked his life by crossing the road when a car approached the springboard at high speed.

The photographer ignored the signaling of the track staff and decided to cross the road to take another place to take the photo. Just at that moment, a “Citroen” car approached the springboard. Fortunately, the photographer escaped the tragedy.

In the fourth stage of the WRC season, “Croatia Rally” a total of 68 crews entered the starting line.

There have been different winners in the first three stages of the season. Belgian Thierry Neville (Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT) won in Monte Carlo, his teammate, Finn Esapeka Lapi was unbeatable in the Swedish winter, while the winner of the challenging Safari Rally in Kenya was Kalle Rovanpera (Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT), the world champion of the last two seasons.

The leading position in the overall ranking of the season has been kept by Neville, who has accumulated 67 points at the beginning of the season. He is followed by “Toyota Gazoo Racing” driver Elfin Evans with 61 points, while the Frenchman Adrien Furmo (M-Sport Ford WRT), who has won third place in the last two stages, is in third place.

Although the Croatian Rally was held for the first time in 1974, it has been included in the WRC calendar only since 2021. In all three previous visits to the world championship, Toyota pilots have won – in 2021 Sebastien Ogier did it, in 2022 the fastest was Rovanpera, but last year Evans won. Although the Croatian rally is classified as an asphalt rally, the quality of the road surface varies a lot during the rally – from very smooth and slippery asphalt to one that has almost worn out.

In the WRC class this week, eight crews have entered the starting line. Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen has joined Neville and Ot Tanaka in Hyundai for this stage, the Frenchman Ogier has added the title to Evans and Takamoto Katsuta, the regular drivers of Toyota, and the usual Furmo and Gregoire Munster will represent the M-Sport Ford team.

The FIA ​​World Rally Championship WRC2 qualification will be supplemented by 22 crews, which will start with “Rally2” cars, which we are used to seeing during the Latvian stage of the FIA ​​European Rally Championship. Among the participants will be the fast on asphalt Johan Rosell from France and Pepe Lopez from Spain, as well as the former world junior champion Sami Pajari from Finland. The Briton Gus Greensmith, who has gained experience in the highest class of WRC, and the Estonian driver Georgs Liname will also be seen at the start.

In addition to the experienced crews, participants of the “Junior WRC” championship will also participate in Croatia, for whom this will be the second stage of the season – and the only one that will take place on asphalt roads. In total, 17 crews will go to the start, all of which will start with “M-Sport Poland” equally prepared “Ford Fiesta Rally3” all-wheel drive cars. Narrow roads with invisible springboards, variable road surface grip, dirt thrown on the road by the starting crews, and unpredictable weather conditions – all this will provide more than one challenge for the participants – the juniors of the FIA ​​World Rally Championship.

In total, “Croatia Rally” crews will have to perform 20 speed stages, their total length reaching 283.28 kilometers.

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