The first of the three days of the 2026 Croatia Rally has officially concluded, during which eight special stages took place. The winner was Sami Pajari, who after taking the lead following the mistakes of Solberg and Evans during the morning, defended the first position in the overall standings from the comeback of a convincing Thierry Neuville. The last stage, however, saw Pajari significantly faster than both the Hyundai driver and Takamoto Katsuta (currently in third position), with a lead over the 2024 world champion of almost 14 seconds. A very spectacular rally also for the WRC2 category, particularly concerning the Italian colors.
Read more Rally di Croazia 2026, SS16: disappointment for Pajari and Katsuta. Neuville is the new leader
SS5-SS8: illusion for Neuville
After the first four stages of Day 1 with Sami Pajari leading the overall standings, the Finnish Toyota driver maintained the lead thanks to the best time set in SS5, the first afternoon stage. The Finn once again finished ahead of Takamoto Katsuta and Thierry Neuville, respectively in second and third positions even after SS4, with the top three drivers having a significant advantage over the chasers (Fourmaux, 4th and Neuville’s teammate, is almost 40 seconds behind him). However, in the next two stages, Pajari was unable to repeat his performance; the best times in SS6 and SS7 were set by Neuville, with the Belgian posting two times that not only allowed him to reduce the gap to Pajari to 6 seconds but also to overtake Katsuta into second place overall, thus preparing well for the last stage of Day 1. SS8 saw Pajari’s resurgence, not only faster than both competitors but with a lead that even rose to +13 seconds over Neuville. The top-5 was completed by the Hyundais of Paddon and Fourmaux, over a minute behind Pajari, but in the WRC2 class, the performances of Yohan Rossel and Nikolay Gryazin, leading the category with the Lancia Ypsilon, cannot go unnoticed. Among the Italian drivers, finally, Roberto Daprà stands out, three times in the top-10 in the four afternoon stages and with eighth place as his best result in SS5 and SS8.
Read more Sensational twist in the Power Stage: Neuville gives the Croatia Rally to Katsuta
2026 Croatia Rally, standings after SS8 (Top-10)
| POS. | DRIVER | CAR | TIME/GAP |
| 1 | Sami Pajari | Toyota | 1:12:18.5 |
| 2 | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +13.7 |
| 3 | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +14.6 |
| 4 | Hayden Paddon | Hyundai | +1:15.0 |
| 5 | Adrien Fourmaux | Hyundai | +1:54.6 |
| 6 | Yohan Rossel | Lancia (WRC2) | +2:45.9 |
| 7 | Nikolay Gryazin | Lancia (WRC2) | +3:08.0 |
| 8 | Alejandro Cachon | Toyota (WRC2) | +3:27.9 |
| 9 | Leo Rossel | Citroën (WRC2) | +3:35.1 |
| 10 | Roope Korhonen | Toyota (WRC2) | +3:47.0 |
