Yohan Rossel will be aiming to maintain his impressive Croatia Rally record when he resumes his WRC2 title quest at round four of the FIA World Rally Championship this week (18 – 21 April).
Frenchman Rossel got his 2024 campaign off to the strongest possible start by claiming victory at the season-opening Rallye Monte-Carlo but has been out of action since the January fixture.
Croatia has been a happy hunting ground for the Citroën C3 Rally2 star in the past, with victories in the previous two editions demonstrating his car’s impressive speed on asphalt. A similar result this time around would elevate Rossel and co-driver Arnaud Dunand to the top of the WRC2 standings – surpassing Oliver Solberg, who is absent this week.
Rossel also renews his rivalry with Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 youngster Pepe López. The pair fought tooth and nail in Monte-Carlo, where López missed out on the win by just 4.0sec. Spain’s López is also registered to score points in the WRC2 Challenger category along with drivers including Nicolas Ciamin, Lauri Joona and William Creighton.
Emil Lindholm, the 2022 WRC2 champion, wheels out his Hyundai i20 N Rally2 for the second time this season, while other star entrants include Eyvind Brynildsen (Škoda), Nikolay Gryazin (Citroën) and Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 hotshots Yuki Yamamoto and Hikaru Kogure.
Safari Rally Kenya Gus Greensmith is present in Croatia, but the Briton is not counting it as one of his seven point-scoring outings.