Tyre issues have been a significant feature at the third round of the championship, with the problems exacerbated by tricky wet and foggy conditions and Croatia’s unique asphalt roads – that feature numerous cuts where gravel and mud can be dragged onto the surface.
In recent years Pirelli’s full wets have been rarely used in the championship, with many of teams and drivers lacking experience on the rubber. This weekend is the first time they have been used in competition since the introduction of the Rally1 hybrid era this year.
Five of the 11 Rally1 car field suffered punctures on the wet compound on Friday with rally leader Kalle Rovanpera joining that list on Saturday.
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans was hit by two front left failures that derailed his podium bid Friday morning, while team-mate Takamoto Katsuta suffered a puncture in the afternoon along with Hyundai’s Ott Tanak.
M-Sport has so far been the worst affected team as Pierre-Louis Loubet was hit by three punctures in two stages, putting him out of the rally, while his stablemate Gus Greensmith suffered four failures on that compound.
Reflecting on the situation, M-Sport team principal Richard Millener believes Pirelli should toughen up its wet compound tyre.
“It is something we need to look at as a championship pretty quickly,” Millener told Autosport on Friday night.
“I want a stronger tyre. We rarely use the wet tyre and before this rally we knew it was going to be wet and we were looking back to find out where we could get some relevant date but I don’t think we have used the tyre for a good few years.
“When you have tyre you use once every couple of years you don’t spend a lot of money and effort into that, and that is fully understandable, but it has shown here with these cars and conditions we do need to look at what we can do.
“Even if nothing happens, we need to have a discussion about it because it is not fair on the drivers and teams, as we spend a hell of a lot of money to…
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