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.”
