The Croatia Rally opened in the toughest possible way with heavy rainfall that increased the level of difficulty for the drivers, on the already challenging Friday special stages and several drivers had problems in the wet, including the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team driver, the Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux who went off the round right into a garden.
The two Friday loops with its eight special stages was eventful right away. The drivers were met directly by wet roads, including heavy fog and a surface with extremely varying grip.
The Frenchman was forced to retire the rally after he drove off the road on the third stage of the day. Shortly after starting, he lost control of the car due to standing water and went right into a private garden.
Many drivers recieved punctures during the day with the worst was for the fellow countryman and M-Sport teammate Pierre-Louis Loubet who also had to retire for the day after his third puncture. Gus Greensmith who is also driving for M-Sport had to retire on the last stage of the day due to a puncture and no extra spare to use.
Fourmaux was set to restart the rally tomorrow but later in the evening the team confirmed he will not continue due to the damage of the Ford Puma Rally1.
In an interview with DirtFish.com, Fourmaux reflected on his accident: “We had a good approach for the rally and then this stage I didn’t have the info that there was water on the line of this corner and then we arrived and just aquaplaned. There was nothing I could really do and we just finished there. It’s really a shame but yeah, nothing I can do.”
“I had an issue with the throttle, I don’t know actually we have to analyze the data, but definitely it’s the water lying in the corner which just snapped the car completely and there’s nothing I could really do, and I lost it completely because of that. It’s frustrating because we had no drama, nothing. We had no punctures, no mistakes, nothing.”
The Croatia Rally continues tomorrow with four stages in the morning loop with stage nine being featured at the tricky Kostanjevac – Petruš Vrh 1 test, before four more stages in the afternoon.
