Elfyn Evans has crashed out of the lead from Croatia Rally, overshooting a right-hander and ending up stuck well off the road in thick foliage.
The championship leader had an opportunity to build a big advantage in the title race against his Toyota team-mate Oliver Solberg, who hit a bank and crashed out on the rally’s opening stage only two hours earlier.
But coming towards a right-hander, Evans appeared to have a pacenote-related issue, exclaiming “I thought it was a three” before understeering off the road and into the bushes.
Co-driver Scott Martin had called a “late-ish right three plus, nips, loose maybe,” as the note for the corner where Evans had gone off.
Evans’ retirement promotes Sami Pajari to the lead, 2.7s up on stage three winner Thierry Neuville.
“It’s the second stage of this loop that it’s less than a minute to the start and I hear that someone went off,” said Pajari. “It’s maybe not the best encouragement really to start the stage with.”
Takamoto Katsuta completes the podium places, 3.7s behind Neuville and 6.4s off the top spot.
Jon Armstrong had been third after the opening test but suffered a front-left puncture on stage two after going through a corner cut, costing him half a minute.
“Just on a real fast place on the braking, there was an entry left into a right and there was something on the left, I could see the guys in front were pulling out grass,” explained Armstrong. “It’s a little bit difficult to stay on the road when you see pollution.”
He’d been the fastest driver on the splits through the Lake Butoniga – Motovun test until his puncture and was only 0.1s slower than stage-winner Neuville on SS3; his searing pace has already promoted him back to fourth overall, 14.8s from the podium places.
Hayden Paddon completes the top five, 10s behind Armstrong and two seconds up on the second M-Sport of Josh McErlean.
Jon Armstrong was rapid on stages two and three; without his 31.3s time loss on SS2 with a puncture he would be the new rally leader
Adrien Fourmaux is down to seventh overall after sustaining a puncture early on stage two, reaching the finish line with his front-right wheel down to the rim and losing 1m28s.
Almost a minute behind McErlean but with Toyota pair Evans and Solberg out, Fourmaux is keen to capitalize on the opportunity their absence presents.
“For now, looking at what happened, for the championship we really need to get some positions back,” said Fourmaux.
“I’m quite angry now, so I need to make sure I don’t make stupid mistakes. But definitely to be first on the road is faster.”
