The result was historic: Lancia’s first ever WRC2 win, and the first time one of its cars featured in the top-four of a World Rally Championship event since 1994.
Add to that the Rossel family finish, with Yohan leading home brother Léo in what was a Stellantis Motorsport podium lockout, and clearly Croatia Rally 2026 was a PR dream for Lancia Corse HF.
But was it a dream for its winner, Yohan Rossel?
If we’re honest, the script was rather familiar as far as he was concerned. This is now his seventh season in a Rally2 car in the WRC, and he’s topped Croatia thrice in WRC2 in that time, so truthfully there’s not a lot left for the 31-year-old to prove at this level.
Indeed, despite the honor and excitement of leading Lancia’s return to the world stage, Rossel admitted he really had to dig deep to motivate himself for another shot at WRC2.
“For sure, at the beginning of the year, it was very difficult for me to keep the motivation to stay in WRC2,” he told DirtFish. “We know it’s the last season of [this generation of] Rally1. It’s just an incredible car and in the future it will be not the same.”
Rossel won't get a shot at driving a car more potent than Rally2
But then he realized: what’s one more year to wait? Next year he should be in a position to win exactly where he is: in a Lancia Rally2 car. And what a story that would be.
“The plan for me, for sure, after so many times with Stellantis group, is to prove that Lancia is ready,” Rossel promised. “We have very close people to work about the WRC2 program. If you want to be ready next year, we need to win at the start to prove the character of the team and also the knowledge.”
That’s where Croatia was also important. The Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale showed its pace immediately out the box in Monte Carlo, but neither Rossel nor Nikolay Gryazin managed to convert that into a result.
“I’m just happy about the brand, Lancia, about the team, to be ready after a short time, to be honest, to be ready with this car. I think it was good on Monte and it was ready to win but I did a small mistake,” Rossel reflected.
“This weekend everything was good, just perfect about the tire, about the settings. I’m just very, very happy about the team and about my family also to push me a lot. My brother, he did a great job [in the Citroën].”
Victory last week was important for 2026, but also 2027
The victory was an important one for Rossel’s championship bid, as it brings him back into play following just a two-point score (he’ll hope to drop) in Monte Carlo. The immediate target will be to try and finally wear that crown for himself, but more importantly earn it for Lancia.
But you sense that all of this is just preparation for 2027 to Rossel. That’s the opportunity “all my career” has been working towards: “It was a dream at the beginning when I am in go-kart, and now it’s just a target,” he vied.
Looking ahead to what might be possible in a Rally2 car vs the new Rally1 next year, Rossel offered: “If the car is fast, if the brand can help a bit, I think we can do a good job, to be honest.
“It will be maybe difficult to fight for the title, but I am sure we can fight for the podium so many times.
“And we see this weekend you can win sometimes more easily. My plan is just to be the best driver that I can be at the end of the year. The best person, the best feeling in the car. Let’s see what we can do next year.”
