The 2023 Croatia Rally (also known as the Rally Croatia 2023) was a

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

event for

rally cars Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sports ...

that was held over four days between 20 and 23 April 2023. It marked the 47th running of the

Croatia Rally The Croatia Rally is an international rallying event based in Zagreb, Croatia and is planned to be the third round of 2021 World Rally Championship. The event is organised by Automobile Clubs D.T. Motorsport and Cro Dakar Team with the support of ...

, and was the fourth round of the

2023 World Rally Championship The 2023 FIA World Rally Championship was the 51st season of the World Rally Championship, an international rallying series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and WRC Promoter GmbH. Teams and crews competed for ...

World Rally Championship-2 The FIA WRC2 is a support championship of the World Rally Championship (WRC). The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after Rally1 class crews. WRC2 is limited to production ...

and

World Rally Championship-3 The FIA WRC3 is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after WRC2 entrants. Entry into WRC3 is limited to cars that ...

. The event was also the second round of the 2023 Junior World Rally Championship. The 2023 event was based in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

Central Croatia In contemporary geography, the terms Central Croatia () and Mountainous Croatia () are used to describe most of the area sometimes historically known as Croatia or Croatia proper (), one of the four historical regions of the Republic of Cro ...

and was contested over twenty special stages, covering a total competitive distance of .

Kalle Rovanperä Kalle Rovanperä (; born 1 October 2000) is a Finnish professional rally driver who competes in the World Rally Championship (WRC) for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, alongside co-driver Jonne Halttunen. He is a double World Champion, having won the 20 ...

and

Jonne Halttunen Jonne Halttunen (born 13 December 1985) is a Finnish rally (sports), rally co-driver. Currently, he is the co-driver of Kalle Rovanperä, driving the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. Previously, they represented Škoda Motorsport to participate in the 20 ...

were the defending rally winners. Their team,

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT The Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team is a competitor of the World Rally Championship (WRC) based in Finland, serving as the entry for the car manufacturer Toyota. Its team principal is former WRC driver Jari-Matti Latvala and its drivers for ...

, were the defending manufacturer's winners.

Yohan Rossel Yohan Rossel (; born 13 February 1995) is a French people, French rallying, rally driver. In 2021, he became the driver's champion in the World Rally Championship-3, WRC3 category. Rossel is also the 2019 French Rally champion. His younger brothe ...

and

Valentin Sarreaud Valentin is a male given name meaning "strong, healthy, power, rule". It comes from the Latin name ''Valentinus'', as in Saint Valentin. Commonly found in Argentina, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Romania, Russia, Scandinavia, Ukraine, Latin A ...

were the defending rally winners in the WRC-2 category. Zoltán László and

Tamás Kürti Tamás () is a Hungarian, masculine given name. It is a Hungarian equivalent of the name Thomas. The given name may refer to: * Tamás Adamik (born 1937), Hungarian linguist and professor * Tamás Bognár (born 1978), Hungarian footballer * Tamá ...

were the defending rally winners in the WRC-3 category.

Lauri Joona Lauri Joona (born 7 December 1996) is a Finnish rally driver. Career Joona made Junior World Rally Championship debut at the 2020 Rally Sweden. Joona participated the World Rally Championship-3 The FIA WRC3 is a support championship of t ...

and

Mikael Korhonen Mikael is a masculine given name, a variant of the Hebrew name Michael (מִיכָאֵל), which means "Who is like God". It is used predominantly throughout Scandinavia and Finland. Mikaela is the feminine form of the name. In France, the name is w ...

were the defending rally winners in the junior category.

Elfyn Evans Elfyn Rhys Evans (born 28 December 1988) is a Welsh professional rallying, rally driver. He has competed full-time in World Rally Championship since 2014, originally for M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, M-Sport Ford and currently for Toyota Gazoo ...

and Scott Martin won the rally, ending their victory drought since the 2021 Rally Finland. Their team,

successfully defended their manufacturer's title.

and Arnaud Dunand successfully defended their titles in the World Rally Championship-2 category.

Eamonn Kelly Eamonn or Éamon or Eamon may refer to: *Eamonn (given name), an Irish male given name *Eamon (singer) (born 1983), American R&B singer-songwriter and harmonicist * ''Eamon'' (video game), a 1980 computer role-playing game for the Apple II *"Éamon ...

and Conor Mohan won the World Rally Championship-3 category, as well as the junior championship. Following an accident in the pre-event test, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT driver

Craig Breen Craig Breen (2 February 1990 – 13 April 2023) was an Irish rally driver who last competed part time for the Hyundai team in the World Rally Championship (WRC). He won the 2012 Super 2000 WRC, scoring class wins in the Monte Carlo Rally, Wale ...

died Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sho ...

at the age of 33.

Background

Entry list

The following crews were set to enter into the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, its support categories, the World Rally Championship-2, World Rally Championship-3, Junior World Rally Championship and

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

entries that were not registered to score points in any championship. Nine were entered under Rally1 regulations, as were nineteen

Rally2 Group Rally2 is a technical specification of rally car determined by the FIA. It features 1.6L turbo engines, four-wheel drive and a maximum weight-to-power ratio of 4.2kg/hp. Rally2 cars are used in the World Rally Championship and continental ...

crews in the World Rally Championship-2 and eight Rally3 crew in the World Rally Championship-3. A total of eight crews were registered to participate in the Junior World Rally Championship.

Itinerary

All dates and times are CEST (

UTC+2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. As standard time (year-round) Principal cities: Pretoria, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Por ...

Report

WRC Rally1

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

WRC-2 Rally2

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

WRC-3 Rally3

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

J-WRC Rally3

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

Death of Craig Breen

The event was overshadowed by the death of

Hyundai Hyundai is a former South Korean industrial conglomerate ("''chaebol''"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Asan, a real estate construction ...

works driver

, who was killed in the pre-event test after the front-left of his

Hyundai i20 N Rally1 The Hyundai i20 N Rally1 is a Rally1 car built by the Hyundai Motorsport that is driven in the World Rally Championship starting in . The prototype car is based on the Hyundai i20 The Hyundai i20 is a supermini hatchback produced by Hyundai ...

collided with a pole on a road. This was the first competitor-involved

fatal accident An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not deliberately caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that the event may have been caused by unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Many researchers, insurers and attorneys w ...

since Jörg Bastuck at the

2006 Rally Catalunya The 42º Rally RACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada, the fourth round of the 2006 World Rally Championship season, took place from March 24 to 26, 2006. Report The rally was the first all-tarmac event of the season. The event was marred by an acciden ...

. His co-driver James Fulton was uninjured. Breen's funeral took place on 18 April 2023 at The Sacred Heart Church in Ferrybank. Several members from the WRC family attended the funeral, including Fulton, Breen's former co-driver,

Paul Nagle Paul Nagle (born 29 August 1978) is an Irish rally co-driver. Drivers with whom he has teamed include Kris Meeke, Gareth MacHale and Craig Breen.

and Breen's teammate at Hyundai,

Dani Sordo Daniel "Dani" Sordo Castillo (born 2 May 1983) is a Spanish rally driver. He competes in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. He achieved his first WRC victory at the 2013 Rallye Deutschland. Career Sordo began in motocross whe ...

. In tribute to Breen, Moonraker Forestry Rally, the second round of the Irish Forestry Championship, was postponed. The

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; ) is an international organisation with two primary functions surrounding use of the automobile. Its mobility division advocacy, advocates the interests of motoring organisations, the automot ...

announced his car number 42 would be retired from the rest of the season.

also decided to participate the event with a special livery on two cars, with the third car withdrawn from the event in honor of Breen.

Notes

References

External links

*
2023 Croatia Rally
at eWRC-results.com
2023 Croatia Rally
at rally-maps.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Croatia Rally, 2023 2023 in Croatian sport

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

April 2023 sports events in Croatia

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...