Rovanperä vs Tänak: Down to the Wire at Extrordinary Rally Croatia

📺 Watch more from Rally Croatia on Red Bull TV: win.gs/wrc-rallycroatia
Finnish championship leader snatches victory from Ott Tänak on the final stage.
Kalle Rovanperä snatched an extraordinary Croatia Rally victory on Sunday afternoon as a downpour turned the event on its head in the final kilometres.
The Finn led from the start of the three-day rally in the hills around Zagreb in his Toyota GR Yaris, only for a storm in the penultimate speed test to wipe out his hard-earned advantage.
A resurgent Ott Tänak, whose gamble on softer Pirelli tyres gave his Hyundai i20 N a performance edge on the streaming asphalt, grabbed a 1.4sec lead.
The pendulum swung back towards Rovanperä as drier roads in the closing Wolf Power Stage offered hope, but the odds remained firmly in Tänak's favour as mud and dirt littered the final 14.09km.
Rovanperä threw caution to the wind and remarkably overturned the deficit to claim back-to-back FIA World Rally Championship wins by 4.3sec. Victory extended his points lead to 29 after three rounds of the 13-event season.
He had dominated the early stages of the event and was almost 90sec clear until falling into Tänak's clutches following a puncture on Saturday morning. He then rebuilt his lead to half a minute until the deluge set up a breathtaking finale.
"I was sure we could not be so fast with these tyres, but it's amazing," smiled Rovanperä. "We pushed really hard and I think we deserve it this weekend. For sure, it was the toughest win of my career."
It was a disappointing outcome for Tänak, whose victory drought dates back to February 2021. "I didn't take any risks, but Kalle obviously did a good drive," he said. "We were fighting for the win, but only because of clever decisions and tyre choices."
The Estonian finished 2min 16.7sec clear of team-mate Thierry Neuville. The Belgian overhauled Craig Breen on the final morning to claim a podium despite a torrid weekend that would have forced many to give up.
He and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe were on the point of collapse after pushing their car for 800 metres into service on Friday, after stopping with alternator problems.
Time penalties and speeding fines knocked them further back and they almost gave up a podium in sight of the finish after hitting a bank and almost rolling.
Breen survived an overshoot and a spin to take fourth in a Ford Puma. The Irishman fended off a closing Elfyn Evans, whose fifth place marked a first points finish of the year for the GR Yaris driver. Japan's Takamoto Katsuta was a distant sixth in another Yaris.
The series switches to gravel for the first time in 2022 at Vodafone Rally de Portugal. The fourth round is based at Matosinhos on May 19-22.
Final positions after Sunday
1. K Rovanperä / J Halttunen FIN Toyota GR Yaris 2h 48m 21.5s
2. O Tänak / M Järveoja EST Hyundai i20 +4.3sec
3. T Neuville / M Wydaeghe BEL Hyundai i20 +2min 21.0sec
4. C Breen / P Nagle IRL Ford Puma +3min 7.3sec
5. E Evans / S Martin GBR Toyota GR Yaris +3min 46.0sec
#WRC #rallycroatia #rally
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[@RedBullRally]

Who was the driver of the rally for you?

[@brian-dy1qs]

Tanak did well but all honours go to kalle

[@itgamingke]

Tanak

[@installshieldwizard3017]

Cameraman

[@alvar891]

Neuville

[@jussiniemisto4721]

Kalle

[@jezuspitagora7082]

Thank you for bringing WRC races here in this usually very calm and boring part of Croatia. We love it and enjoy every second of it and will gladly participate in the future too.

[@RedBullRally]

Our pleasure!

[@StreetWarrior24]

Rally Croatia is quickly becoming a classic.

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

👍

[@badaboom8520]

You don't need to thank our politics, it is just the matter of a rally on a proper, nice and slippery, road surface

[@jtrann1930]

Rally Croatia should be a permanent fixture in future. Fans seem to enjoy rally there.

[@Kiss__Kiss]

Congrats to Kalle, GR Toyota, and the Rovenpera family.

[@johan_juhic]

I saw Kalle Rovanperä today morning on the motorway!

[@RedBullRally]

Did you pass him? 😅

[@kresimirkrupnik3209]

@@RedBullRally Of course , he did. You can't even imagine how dangerous Zagorje people can be. Look for future champions in Zagorje. (3rd day of WRC). PS: Just avoid around November 11th ... when the wine is baptized!!!

[@2starkiller]

I'm very impressed by Kalle Rovanperä doing so well, so early in his career, what a unit! Torille! Nice to see Neuville got to keep his third place as well after so many unfortunate events and a close call at the end there.

[@Sartzaihminenn17]

Torille🇫🇮

[@yutasknight]

There must be something special in this Croatian asphalt when giving us such a close races two years in a row...

[@RedBullRally]

It's incredible, 2 brilliant rallies in 2 years in Croatia!

[@MrCro93]

Lack of quality

[@whitemetal6831]

@@MrCro93 Lmao bro just called croatian roads quality lacking 💀

[@seeker7324]

@@MrCro93 yea cause the point of rally is to drive on perfect conditions and silky smooth roads.

[@MrCro93]

@@seeker7324 These are actual public roads that we use every day. Because they are bad they give "special" rally experience with many potholes, loose gravel and mud on asphalt. Would you like to drive your children to school on something that is described as unpredictable and special tarmac rally stage?

[@hillclimbracingfan5821]

A great finish to this crazy tarmac rally.Turns out Croatia is type of race WRC needed.

[@RedBullRally]

Just like last year!

[@hillclimbracingfan5821]

@@RedBullRally Last year was true dramatic finish.

[@badaboom8520]

Most of us Croats know how slippery the roads are, and why those tracks were perfect for WRC

[@iyadkamhiyeh527]

This rally was so dramatic and full of action!

[@RedBullRally]

The way we love it!

[@itgamingke]

Tuned in from Kenya 🇰🇪

[@kari9856]

KR was impressive. He did not make any mistakes. The victory was his to loose due to his team, who opted for hard tyres but even on a worse tyres, KR pulled away.

[@brian-dy1qs]

A kalle masterclass

[@kresimirmrvicin2359]

Croatia has a potential to become one of most intresting races in calendar. Stage is great.

[@gokulkrishm51]

What a wonderful (Dramatic) weekend in Croatia! Btw, I'm only noticing now that RB rally crossed 100k! Congrats!

[@RedBullRally]

Thanks! 😃

[@vjollila96]

Kalle is already a legend

[@dickmccarthy9496]

Croatian rally been interesting both times. Definitely one of my favourite rallies. GGs to Rovanperä, maybe Finns get that championship after waiting 20 years.

[@garinakbar1907]

What a mature driving by a 21 year old Finn, Kalle Rovanpera full of Sisu is definitely going to win the championship this year I believe

[@novensyarizqie5985]

Rovanperä definitely a good driver, hope he get 1 championsip at least

[@jussipuurunen2651]

He's like 20 years😂 it (them) will come!

[@jukkao.parviainen8669]

We Finns keep a rally driver as a good one with three Championships….I think Kalle has time for 5-6 at least.

[@nickormiston8411]

What am amazing end to the rally. You can never count Ott out

[@enile1994]

WRC is heating up, FULL SEND for next Rally! Go OTT!

[@rscossu69]

Kalle is amazing, one world: FULL SEND

[@DEFIANT71DEFIANT]

Great win. Great rally.

[@SpeedHackVideos]

That was such a close battle, even on the power stage! Congrats to Kalle, we hope that he keeps going like this 😁

[@RonnieKSMugalu92]

Congs the younger champ, the future is really bright.

[@Rikitikisiki]

Full send. Flat-out. Kalle Rovanperä. Synonyms.

[@miguelangel.5488]

Great Rally, The Next, Portugal 💜.

[@RedBullRally]

Can't wait!

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Rally Croatia reminds me of Circuit of Ireland of yore - thin roads. Down the bumpy narrow lanes. 🙂

[@donbrashsux]

Kalles Time has arrived

[@matepavlovic361]

Best Rally on Calendar😍❤ and so close again

[@leinadnagrom]

3:15 the hard tyres were not the favoured choice. many drivers were stuck with them and could not generate any heat. the softs were the optimal tyre to be on

[@astuinpaskaan]

Yes. I was confused about that. Get your facts straight red bull!

[@Raul-gm1jc]

Crazy Finnish

[@fujifuyu]

thank for this video . is great .. thx ya~

[@Starman1941]

So good last stage

[@shaunsprogress]

Great to see Tanak back on form, also Hyundai!

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

I was watching the live timings of the last but end stage - they were MAD! I thought what the hell has been going on all of a sudden! And now I see, it was a heavy rain shower. And Theirry last stage, tries to climb trees... 😳😳 - 😁 😁 😁 ~ 😎🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@lentso99noob91]

0:53 Tanak sure got some of that "rallienglanti" aswell

[@rnbwrc4469]

Rovanpera!

[@markos8400]

3:15 - if you look at the onboards and listen to end stage interviews, you'd clearly know hard tyre was NOT the right choice on wet, slippy and muddy "tarmac"...

[@TravelPortugalBrasilTPB]

Kalle 👍

[@mulaxxlracing6593]

Nice video 👍

[@henrikhyrup3995]

Rovanperä vs Tänak? That sounds like 2 black metal frontmen having a diss battle.

[@LeGoog2008]

KALLE, KALLE, KALLE, KALLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :DDD

[@Subrata2711]

Well done

[@andresantel2137]

Toyota sure is quick this year

[@joaocavaca]

This is Neuville´s year...I can tell you

[@StreetWarrior24]

After surviving an off like that, it very well could be.

[@MV-yp8il]

AWESOME FANSS🥰🥰❤

[@brosnboonies8395]

Like number 420 !!! Stay high my friends!!

[@evanmaniac2549]

Kale team kale biig toyora bwoy mia happy for you Congratulations booy God bless yah

[@XecutionStyle]

Why are you interrupt the drive with interviews? Jeezaas

[@messi221122]

Where is S Loeb?

[@RedBullRally]

He is only racing selected events this year

[@matthewlysaght]

Tanak sounds like Danhausen

[@jasonwanjiku4566]

Kenya series 🇰🇪🇰🇪

[@alfiec5257]

Hi 👋

[@kalsaumesatungiamata9066]

Boy, Tanak almost pulled it off in just 2 stages. Lucky for Kale the sun came out

[@RoqueM1]

wouldnt have happened without toyotas tire mishap

[@drazenbudis1303]

There is no "without" in rallying, punctures are part of the game. You can be as fast as you want if you fail to take care of your tires.

[@ubjuu]

tanak for sure.