Thierry Nouvel ends his busy opening day in Croatia with second place | gathering

Thierry Nouvel closed an eventful opening day in second place. In addition to this morning’s 40-second penalty, Neuville was also fined 1,900 euros for excessive speed. Neuville was driving at 156 km/h in a place where the speed was limited to 80 km/h.

In the afternoon, Neuville lost valuable time when water got into his car and became a windshield.

World Cup leader Kali Rovanpera continued his momentum and won three more of the four ranking stages. In the standings, he is 1’04” ahead of Nouvel.

Downer by Thierry Nouvel. This afternoon, our compatriot was at two at 12.55 from Chief Rovanpera. But on the way to time control, Nouvel had a breakdown just before the assist area. And our compatriot had to push his car for a while.

Finally Neuville came to control the time 4 minutes late, giving him a 40-second penalty. Neuville drops from second to fourth in the standings. The gap on Commander Rovanpera is now 52″5.

Kali Rovanpera, winner of the final round of the World Cup in Sweden, did not miss his start in Croatia. The Small Fin (Toyota) was already the fastest to get away on Thursday and continued that streak in the first four challenges of the day.

Thierry Nouvel complained about the lack of grip on him and he has to settle for the provisional second place. However, the rally that he leads entirely on asphalt should suit him. Last year he won in Ypres and Catalonia.

Neuville is more than 12 seconds behind Rovanpera. He is followed by teammate Ott Tanak in third place. This afternoon, there are 4 super specials on the show.