Preparations for the fifth event of the Croatian Rally Championship season are in the final stage. The 11. Kärcher Rally Kumrovec will be held on September 9 and 10, and will also be counted for prestigious international series, the FIA Championship of the Central European Zone (CEZ) and the Alpe Adria Rally Trophy. Last year, in its tenth anniversary edition, it gathered 65 crews from seven countries.
Nine special stages will be run, and a new one has been added to previously known locations. “There are few news. We’ve expanded the area where the competition is taking place. This extension refers to going to the vicinity of the Veliki Tabor castle, where the Desinic stage will be run. On the old and already well-known stages, we’ve decided to make a drastic change, which is to turn the direction of driving. On Tuesday, September 6, we will publish the Entry List, and I can already announce that it will be excellent. Once again we expect the spectators in large numbers and I hereby urge them to follow all instructions of the marshalls and stewarts along the track,” said the Clerk of the Course Željko Štefanić.
The itinerary consists of 75.40 km of tests and has a total length of 161.98 km. “It all starts, as usual with a shakedown on Friday, September 9, followed by two prologues at Terme Tuhelj parking lot. Saturday’s program begins with the ceremonial start at Staro Selo Museum, followed by two passes to the stages of Desinić and Zagorska Sela and three times the Kumrovec test. The finish is scheduled for 18:30,” Štefanić added.
The section between Zagorje Selo and Kumrovec is written in the history of the world rally as the site of epic finals of the Croatia Rally. In both WRC editions of the event so far, it is on this route that the question of the winner has been decided. In April 2021, Elfyn Evans lost the victory to Sebastein Ogier by only six tenths of a second, and a year later Kalle Rovanperä surpassed Ott Tänak with a brilliant ride for the overall celebration in Croatia. After only two editions of the Croatia Rally in the WRC calendar, the world media called it a classic, and its Powerstage Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec one of the most attractive and technically demanding in the entire World Championship.
“I feel that in Croatia we have witnessed the birth of a new world champion, young Finn Rovanpera. It was Powerstage Kumrovec that was declared the turning point of the last season by the WRC fans, as Ogier took the push to the eighth title on it. Rovanperä did the same this year, winning the maximum 30 points,” Štefanic concluded.
In the ten editions of the Kumrovec Rally so far, only once the crew from Croatia has won the victory. It was in 2013 when Daniel Šaškin and Damir Bruner won in Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. The last five editions were won by crews from Austria. Hermann Neubauer and Niki Mayr-Melnhof each celebrated twice in Ford Fiesta R5 and Rally2 cars, along with three co-drivers – Bernhard Ettel, Poldi Welsersheimb and Thomas Zeiser. In 2020, Simon Wagner and Gerald Winter celebrated in Skoda Fabia R5 Evo. The most successful driver remains Hungary’s Janos Szilagyi with three wins with Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, while his compatriot Krisztian Hideg has one win with an identical car.
