ZAGREB, 26 April, 2021 - Belgian Thierry Neuville, who came in third in Croatia Rally, the third round of the World Rally Championship (WRC), will donate €4,000 for the reconstruction of the building of the General Hospital "Dr Ivo Pedišić" in Sisak.

Neuville has shown that in addition to being an excellent rally driver, he is also a great humanitarian as he joined the international humanitarian campaign "Together to the Finish Line", which was launched at the end of March by the Croatia Rally organising committee with the support of the WRC and the Croatian Red Cross as the project holder.

Neuville's team thanked the organisers for a great rally which took place this weekend at the local roads of Karlovac, Krapina-Zagorje and Zagreb counties and the City of Zagreb. They said that everyone was extremely happy and satisfied with their stay in Croatia.

Together with his colleagues Sebastien Ogier and Teemu Suninen, Neuville has been supporting the humanitarian campaign since the very start, and the Belgian had announced that he would donate €2,000 for participating and €4,000 if he won second or third place.

After a great weekend on local Croatian roads, the Belgian finished third, together with his co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe. Interestingly, the Belgian crew was third in all of the three rounds of this year's WRC, and it is ranked second in it overall WRC standings.

All those interested can support the excellent sports-humanitarian initiative until 30 April by donating to account HR2023600001502892305.

To read more news from Croatia, follow our dedicated page.

April 23, 2021 - Belgian driver Thierry Neuville (Hyundai i20) leads with three morning victories on the WRC Croatia Rally day one. Even with small delays in the four afternoon specials, he kept the top spot, while the current and seven-time world champion Frenchman Sebastien Ogier broke into second place (Toyota Yaris).

Ogier was the fastest in the last three special stages in the afternoon, reducing his gap to 7.7 seconds behind the Belgian asphalt specialist after the first day.

"I'm pretty happy with the first day. It was difficult for everyone, and after Kalle took off, our main goal was to try to use a good starting position, which we managed," said the leader Neuville, commenting on the afternoon three-stage victory of his great rival Sebastien Ogier.

"I have gone through enough fights with myself, and I know what he is capable of, just as he knows what I can do. Tomorrow’s stages will be challenging again, but I like them, and I hope to keep pushing as much as I can to keep you in the lead."

Luka Stanzl / PIXSELL

Britain’s Elfyn Evans (Toyota Yaris) is in the game for an overall win with 8.0 seconds behind Neuville. Estonian Ott Tanak (Hyundai i20 Coupe) is fourth, but he is 31.9 seconds behind the leader.

The first speed test of the Croatia Rally was also the last for the leader in the overall World Championship 20-year-old Finn Kalle Rovanperä, who landed off the road with his Toyota Yaris and ended up in an abyss overgrown with trees. Luckily, his co-driver Jonne Halttunen also got out of the car unscathed, but the car was so destroyed that Rovanperä will not be able to start on Saturday.

At the same turn in first gear, Ogier almost turned out but managed to stay on the road.

Unfortunately, among the seven crews that had to give up the competition on the first day were two Croatian teams. Vilim Prodan and co-driver Zoran Raštegorac (Ford Fiesta) were left without the possibility of continuing the rally after the third speed test due to a malfunction, and Martin Ravenščak with co-driver Tomislav Tomašković (Ford Fiesta) finished their appearance after the fifth speed, also due to technical problems.

Luka Stanzl / PIXSELL

The Saturday morning program starts at 8.29 am, with the speed test Mali Lipovac - Grdanjci, length 20.30 km. The first speed test in the afternoon part of the program will be run on the same section, starting at 14.29. On Saturday, the drivers are facing eight special stages.

Source: HRT

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