WRC 2026 Rd.04 Preview | 2026 | PRESS RELEASE | WRC

Croatia Rally: Preview TGR-WRT turns attention to asphalt for Croatia comeback

2026.04.03 (Fri)

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team turns its attention to asphalt when the Croatia Rally hosts round four of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship on April 9-12, the first of several challenging events on the surface in the coming weeks.

Croatia commences a busy period for teams featuring three rallies in the next five weeks, and will also be the first of three asphalt rounds held across the next two months. Croatia’s demanding roads will be followed just two weeks later by those of Rally Islas Canarias. After a return to gravel in Portugal another fortnight later, action moves back to asphalt for Rally Japan at the end of May.

Returning to the WRC calendar after one year out, the Croatia Rally has become known for its challenging mix of asphalt surfaces and constantly changing grip levels on stages that combine twisting and technical roads with fast and flowing sections including jumps and crests.

For this year, the rally’s base moves around 150 kilometres south-west from the capital Zagreb to the coastal city of Rijeka, with the service park set up at the Grobnik racing circuit. This move brings significant changes to the route: all but three of the stages are new to the WRC, introducing unfamiliar terrain and challenges, but the potential for changeable weather conditions remains.

After a ceremonial start in the centre of Rijeka on Thursday evening, the rally begins on Friday with a loop of four stages to the west on the Istrian peninsula which will all be run twice either side of mid-day service. Another four stages are run twice on Saturday, this time to the east of Rijeka with a tyre-fitting zone in Karlovac. The rally concludes on Sunday with a pair of repeated stages overlooking the Kvarner Gulf and the Adriatic Sea.

TGR-WRT and its GR YARIS Rally1 car have a strong record in Croatia, winning all four previous editions held as part of the WRC. Elfyn Evans claimed victory in 2023 and has twice finished second, and goes into this year’s event leading the drivers’ championship by eight points ahead of team-mate Oliver Solberg. Just three points further from the lead and fresh from his maiden WRC victory in Kenya is Takamoto Katsuta, who completes the team’s nominated trio for the manufacturers’ championship, where it defends a 43-point lead. Sami Pajari lines up for TGR-WRT2 after back-to-back podiums on the last events in Sweden and Kenya.

TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto returns to action to resume his campaign aboard a GR Yaris Rally2, with him and co-driver James Fulton having completed their recovery from a testing accident prior to Rally Sweden.

Six more GR Yaris Rally2 drivers will compete for WRC2 honours in Croatia: Roope Korhonen, Taylor Gill, Alejandro Cachón, Kajetan Kajetanowicz, Bernhard ten Brinke and Johannes Keferböck.

Quotes:
Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)
“The Safari Rally was very challenging but it was fantastic for the whole team to see Takamoto take his first victory, and now we look forward to another different challenge with back-to-back asphalt rallies ahead. We have a good record in Croatia so we are looking forward to returning there after a year away, and also to taking on some new roads in a different part of the country. Usually we’ve seen the weather play a big role in the event and our drivers have experienced a wide range of conditions between them in pre-event testing. When the grip levels are changing, a driver can make a big difference if they’re feeling confident. Our car has been performing strongly on asphalt and all our drivers are looking confident lately, so our target will be to try to convert this into a strong result.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“Croatia has been a good rally for us in the past so it’s nice to be going back there. It’s always been a rally with a lot of surface changes and with that a lot of grip changes, but there are more unknowns this year with the event moving towards the coast. We will have to see what the new stages are like when we get there, and write plenty of new pacenotes during the recce. In our test we had quite wet and muddy conditions, which could be representative of what we’ll face in the rally, but we were also having to think ahead towards the Canaries with some parts linked between the two rallies. Like always, we aim to fight for the best result possible.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“It will be nice to be back on asphalt for the next events. We had some good feelings in the car already on asphalt at Rallye Monte-Carlo and even though the conditions there were very specific, it does give confidence that we can be competitive on every surface. I’ve done Croatia a couple of times previously and it’s certainly a tricky rally: quite dirty and slippery with a lot of cutting. It’s kind of like a mild Monte-Carlo. This time we’re in a new part of the country with new stages so it could be quite different to previous years, but still a big challenge no doubt. It’s been a strong start to the year so far and I would be happy to keep that going and keep learning.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“Kenya was a very special moment in my career. It’s been a busy few weeks since, including a trip back to Japan and some testing, but I’m feeling good, relaxed and fully focused for the next events. We have two asphalt rallies coming up back-to-back, as well as Rally Japan, which will be another important rally for me and the team. It gives us a good opportunity to try things and find the best feeling on this surface, even though each rally is quite different. Croatia is one of the trickiest asphalt events because even in the dry the grip changes a lot, and in my test we had a lot of rain and even some snow! With many new stages too, we have to be ready for surprises.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“It’s cool to be back on asphalt and back in Croatia after this rally wasn’t on the calendar last year. It’s nice to have such different rallies in this first part of the season, going from Sweden to Kenya and now another completely different rally again. My feeling so far with this car on asphalt has been good – it was on this surface that we took our first podium in Japan at the end of last year – so I’m looking forward. In our test we had dry conditions and quite fast and flowing roads, but we know the rally can be quite different. Normally it’s quite tricky and muddy with a lot of cuts, so it’s not going to be an easy one, but my feeling is good.”

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)
“My recovery has gone well and I’m really looking forward to being back in a rally car in Croatia. It’s a very tricky rally with the cuts and dirt and unpredictable weather. I’ve done it twice before including last year in the European championship, and although this year’s route is quite different, we still have some knowledge about what kind of driving and car setup is required there. We’ve done some good analysis since Rallye Monte-Carlo about where we can improve with the pacenotes and more, so I feel ready and excited. Again, we’re not scoring WRC2 points, but if we can put everything together, I’m sure we can have good pace and a good result.”