34-year-old Elfyn Evans took his first victory since 2021 and moved into joint World Championship lead with team-mate Sebastien Ogier after his Toyota entered first of all in Croatia.
But Evan’s, and rallysport’s, thoughts were elsewhere. The thoughts were instead with the Irishman Craig Breen, who killed himself while training for the race earlier this month.
— The win is insignificant for me right now. We’ve worked hard for a long time to get here but it’s surprising how pointless it feels, says Evans.
— We think of our friend, that was all we could think of when we crossed the finish line.
Ford driver Ott Tänak (Estonia) was second, 27 seconds behind Evans, while Finland’s Esapekki Lappi took third in his Hyundai, which was painted in Ireland’s colors as a tribute to Breen.
Breen’s fatal crash was the first time since 1989 that a World Championship driver had died during practice or competition. Then the Portuguese Augusto Mendes was killed during Portugal’s WC rally.