Rally di Croazia 2026, SS12: Solberg flies, but Pajari remains leader

The 2026 Croatia Rally started with a serious mistake by Oliver Solberg, forcing the Swedish Toyota driver to retire following a spin. A stage effectively compromised for the Monte Carlo Rally winner, who nevertheless showed his class in the first four stages today, at the end of which he set the best time. Less remarkable performances, however, came from another Toyota driver, Sami Pajari, who still maintains the overall lead ahead of Thierry Neuville and Takamoto Katsuta, once again protagonists in an exciting battle for second place.

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SS9-SS12: tit-for-tat between Katsuta and Neuville

Already in the first special stage of Day 2, which was also the ninth of the program, Solberg and Mitch Evans redeemed themselves from the mistakes made yesterday by finishing first and second respectively ahead of Pajari. For the Finn, it was the best performance of the morning, unlike Solberg, who again set the best time in SS10. Finishing behind the Toyota representative, however, was another driver from the Japanese team: Takamoto Katsuta. A high-level performance that allowed the Japanese driver to overtake Thierry Neuville and take second place in the overall standings, but only briefly. By the end of SS11, the longest stage this morning at 22 km, the Hyundai Belgian recorded the fifth time ahead of Pajari (6th as in the previous stage), while Katsuta did not go beyond 9th place. A final result that allowed the 2024 world champion to return once again to second place, all with Solberg once again setting the best performance. The Swede managed to finish ahead of everyone for the fourth consecutive time also in SS12, while Katsuta reduced his gap to Neuville to almost 13 seconds. Pajari, who completed the top 5, still managed to maintain the provisional lead of the Croatia Rally, with a 12-second advantage over Neuville, in a stage also marked by an error from Adrian Fourmaux, who hit a post with the rear of the i20N. An impact that also affected the standings, with the Lancias of Rossel and Gryazin rising to fifth and sixth positions.

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2026 Croatia Rally, standings after SS12 (Top-10)