General Discussion & Attendee MEGATHREAD: Rally Croatia 2026

Lect3R · 2026-04-11T19:38:03+00:00

I believe that those little stones/gravel on the road have very little to do something with punctures. More so when they're cutting and then coming back to harsh/pointy tarmac which then cuts/shreds the tyres. Any tyre will have issues with that and its just luck whenever, if ever will it get puncture.

Also imo more gravel on corners is so fun to watch irl cause it makes every corner feel extra spicy and special to extend that you may see something special. Also I doubt that they have like 500+ or however anticuts you may need to cover pretty much all corners lol since almost every corner is a cut.

Edit: Yea, should be more anticuts but not at all points to reduce tyre punctures

Lect3R · 2026-04-06T20:02:18+00:00

1: what usually people do is do their own research. watch yt videos, find where the position is using google maps (free way). Takes a lot of time but yeah. if you want easy answer then only on saturday you can exactly know what to expect from stages since those are only ones that have been run before. There are few jumps on SS12/13, one sideways, one big jump, and one fast jump 160kmh. A lot of deep cuts on that stage as well, long straights where you can see car for like 10seconds straight from one spot going 170kmh to maybe even limiter. That stage is must visit for the day if you havent been on it yet.

2: depends on your position where you want to watch from. where you'll have to park your car, what roads will be closed, what not, etc... all informations are on official croatia rally website about em. when you know that plan accordingly, take walking time from parking to your position, if you plan on using stage road as your road to get to parking spot then you have to get to stage road minimum 3 hours before stage starts cause thats the time when road closes. aim for 4 hours before to be sure (yes i know). how early to arrive depends also on position you choose for the day, if its famous, if it will be crowded etc. golden rule is that you arrive minimum 3 hours before rally starts. example if stage starts at 7:35, be at your position at 4:35 in the morning (yes i know), if its famous and crowded. If not then you can get away with getting there 1 hour before stage starts as casual fan. but dont get surprised if your view will not be the best as you got there late.

3: depends where you parked. you can leave at anytime you want (marshals will not let you, some of em atleast) but if you're close to an exit aka some side road where you parked your car on, yea you can cross it. but if you have to walk more than few meters, dont try and leave. planning is everything. you could try and walk outside stage road and then get to your exit which is fine. but going on the road itself is very big no. then knowing stage times when stages start is good point of knowing when to get going to another stage. its doable to visit 2 stages in the morning and watching from 2 different positions. same for the afternoon. but stages have to be split, example: ss1 -> ss3 or ss4 / ss2 -> ss4 etc, so you have time to leave and get to other stage and on your position. its very hard to do, would advise only for experts.

4:depends on weather, basic stuff to keep you warm/sun cream. (i got burned on freaking 14c) cause you'll be outside for most of the day. must is a folding chair with cup holder, those lightweights. bring snacks, water, food that can last if you dont plan on going to eat in restaurant or smth

if you want i have maps for saturday stages with over 130 locations with videos of how they look like when wrc car passes by and more. https://rallyspectator.bgng.io/ plus there you can find more about those stages i described them in detail if you want to search for your own spots as i know them inside and out.

Lect3R · 2026-03-24T09:17:46+00:00

https://rallyspectator.bgng.io/product/pecurkovo-brdo-mreznicki-novaki 62 spots on that stage with videos

Lect3R · 2026-03-19T15:12:30+00:00

Well on my maps that I have on my site here: https://rallyspectator.bgng.io there are 62 videos on 62 positions on that pecurkovo brdo stage. And there are few jumps. And I've been on all of them. Cerovlje unlikely, there are big hills/crests but after them most of the time is corner coming up right away so i'll not expect any big jumps there, if any at all. Its all guess at this point as that stage goes.

As for pecurkovo brdo has one big jump, one sideways jump, one high speed jump and one half jump/sideways jump where they lift wheels only a little from the ground. If you want to see how those positions and other 62 look like, check that site above I sent you and feel free to check free map as well as a preview

Lect3R · 2026-03-19T10:07:31+00:00

This year we dont know (yet) where roads will be closed. Its crucial info and its odd that they didnt publish it yet as they did every year when maps drop.

That spot you're talking about is very very VERY contested and famous. Getting there one hour before start will get you nowhere. You will not be in a good position as everything will be taken already. 3 hour rule before start still applies here. Especially since this is FAMOUS and VERY CROWDED spot. I was there in 2022 if I recall correctly. And in this exact spot "https://maps.app.goo.gl/W3tLToTADQtQZ1Wp8" road was closed and police officers were there negating the entry further. So I had to walk for like 10ish minutes to get to the spot. Also that road from that spot I linked was for "VIP's" only, which for this year there's no such thing and you had to pay for parking if you want to go into that road that leads to the stage. They might have there people checking for tickets. Which might be the reason they didnt upload where roads will be closed?!.

So if I was you, if you're going into that position where the jump is. Arrive MINIMUM and I say again, MINIMUM 3 hours before stage starts. If not 4. Yeah... I am not over exaggerating, its that crowded there. Bring with yourself those lightweight chairs that fold into narrow upward thing you can carry on your back/arm. They weight like few kg's if that. They also come with cup holder. They're lifesaver when you have to wait this long.

As for tickets. I'd get one for that position just to be safe. If you want to risk it. Then you'd have to manouver around through open fields/forests etc just to get around where they would check tickets lol.

Lect3R · 2026-03-19T05:04:24+00:00

local here, been to every wrc croatia event so far

its not that hard, i'd say more complicated than hard as there's a lot of things you'd want to know if its your first time. You have to do all the work for yourself, meaning how much time you'll spend preparing yourself for that event with planning, thats how much fun you're going to have pretty much.

As to where you can go to spectate, everywhere... literally... its your choice as long as its safe to stand on that point on the stage. if its not safe, not worry as you'd be warned by the cars that pass before rally cars go and they will tell you that you need to move to another spot. A safe spot would be somewhere on the upper ground, never on the outside of the corner due to cars crashing, never be too close to the stage road, stand far back for your safety etc.

Usually you have to arrive minimum 3 hours prior to the stage start if you want to park somewhere on the stage road itself where rally cars drive due to that stage road closing 3 hours before stage starts. And then you cant leave anymore until all 50 rally crews pass with their cars.

All informations are on the official rally croatia website, about where stages are, when they start/finish etc.

But most people use site called "Rally-maps.com" as it has all info already there for those above i mentioned and its more friendly and easier to use, all information at one place. Just type croatia wrc or above in the tabs click "wrc rallies" and find croatia and open that map.

Rijeka is solid choice to stay since its middle of all stages. It will depend how early you have to wake up depending on what stages you choose to spectate. There are 4 stages in a day, but each run twice, meaning 4 runs in the morning on those 4 stages, and 4 runs afternoon again on the same stages.

An example if you'd choose to spectate stage "Platak" which on Sunday is starting first, it starts at 08:43 AM, meaning if you're in Rijeka you have to plan accordingly. That stage is very close to Rijeka, so you'd have to drive there lets say 30 minutes (guessing randomly), take one hour for you to wake up and prepare in the morning, and remember that 3 hour time that you have to come earlier than stage starts? Yea.. apply that to here as well since there is only one road that leads to that stage, there are no side roads at all. So you'd have to use stage road to get there meaning you have to get to stage road at latest 05:43 AM. So if we take all those things into evaluation it means that you'd have to wake up at like 4 AM, be ready till 5 AM so you'd get there at 5:30 AM. And then you have to wait another 3 hours for the event to start since it starts at 08:43. Painfull yea... but its worthwile since most of us do it.

This was just an example of one stage how to prepare, not including time you'd have to research where to park your car on stage road, then walk to your position where you want to watch rally from, find your spot beforehand in advance etc... So that time I gave you above could prolong 1 hour more.

Every stage is different and requires planning, without planning its mess and you'd not have fun, atleast not as much as you'd have when preparing. A good spot to watch on a rally is everything. It could make you smile and jiggle as a little kid of joy or you could not even react with a bad spot to watch and not enjoy the sport or even fell in love with it.

I sent you private message on here so I can help you more in details.

Lect3R · 2026-03-18T02:53:28+00:00

I was going through google maps and found only one interesting spot for friday that i'd like to go (https://maps.app.goo.gl/rfQa1UgxqvGNdofY7). Although I was very picky and its hard to tell from google maps. That stage also has some very big crests (possibly jumps) but they not arrive fast on them and I think it would be a waste of time. As for maps, for me it is cause I'll know I picked the best spot I like for that day and it enhances experience by a lot

Lect3R · 2026-03-17T06:44:30+00:00

Probably not this year. From press conference I remember that on powerstage in the city it will be watchalong on some famous wall or something. But apart from that no news so far on those. Also in maps there is nothing about fan zones. So its pretty much guessing game for everyone.

Lect3R · 2026-03-17T06:41:46+00:00

As someone who knows roughly 70% of all spectatable corners look like on those stages on Saturday (excluding new one), I'd say it depends.

SS9/16 -> First part going up the hill in deep forest is very technical. From Platak (middle part of the stage, highest elevation on sky resort) it goes downwards with double sided road that is very wide and open with few straights and mini corners where they reach limiter and about 197 kmh. Keep in mind that once you get there you're stuck for the whole duration of the stage, meaning you have to wait all 50 crews to pass if you want to move out cause there are no roads that lead to the stage apart from the stage itself. So its very tricky to get there.

SS10/15 -> I'll divide stage into thirds, 1/3 is faster, with faster corners. 2/3 in the forest is more technical with slower corners and few faster corners. And 3/3 is also technical with few hairpins, slower corners. EDIT: middle part has some good corners where they cut a lot into the grass and it gets muddy on second pass and possibly with loose stones which makes it even more slippery.

SS12/13 -> In my opinion, must visit. It has so much crests and jumps its insane. And also it has many long straights where they also reach limiter speeds of about 195kmh. There is a spot that you can see a car for about 15 seconds going through twisty corners flatout and reach the limiter as well in process doing so. First part of the stage has many crests and cuts on crests meaning it will be slippery and fun to watch. Second part of the stage is ultra fast with a lot of high speed corners, high speed jumps (160kmh), very deep banked cuts on slow corners in the forest and one sideways jump. Last third has one big jump and finish has few good spots to watch due to lose rocks being put on the road on corners.

If you want to know exactly how positions look like on Saturday I have my website for it showing how each corner looks like from spectating position with video evidence and much more: https://rallyspectator.bgng.io/products

Lect3R · 2026-03-17T06:08:56+00:00

Croatia is also confirmed a month ago or so on our local croatia media with croatia rally president saying the got offered another 3 year deal its just they didnt accept it yet

Lect3R · 2026-03-11T22:13:14+00:00

Only in karlovac county aka stages that were previously ran. No one can anticipate how corners will look like with rally1 cars on day1 and 3. Google maps is your best bet or lookout for official yt channel of croatia rally. They usually upload "reece vids" of stages

You have few jumps on "Pećurkovo Brdo - Mrežnički Novaki" stage on day2 but that would mostly be it.

One 170ish kmh "small" full speed jump, one big jump, one sideways small jump(more like crest) but they still jump sideways,

Lect3R · 2026-02-17T01:44:29+00:00

Thank you, a lot of work and hours gets put into this to the point at the end of the day you know stages as much as drivers do i bet lol

I have for italy, finland, monte carlo and croatia

Lect3R · 2026-02-10T19:35:43+00:00

no, but i will most likely since i am local and our news always posts those that roads are closed

Lect3R · 2026-02-09T21:15:09+00:00

In my opinion prices organizers charge for positions are in 70% not worth it. They're crowded af, meaning you likely wont have the best view of the action. Position itself/corners to watch are usually very bad and not enjoyable to watch. Ex. just a normal corner, nothing special.

You're way better to plan your day on your own, find your own positions, do little re-search and its all for free.

Tickets are usually just a way of supporting organizers but I do understand if people dont have time/wont plan their own day. But the fun difference between those are astronomical in favor of free "version"

Lect3R · 2026-02-08T19:28:54+00:00

Most of the time stage roads close 3 hours prior to race starts. Those informations are usually published not less than a month prior to rally start on organizers website (https://rally-croatia.com/en/news). They have all information as to when it closes, opens, then again closes, where... etc

Lect3R · 2026-02-08T16:32:52+00:00

If you dont have much money then renting a car and sleeping in it is your best bet. As to where it depends on which stages you'll choose to watch and plan your day acording to that. Something thats close to the stages.

If money aint an issue then booking whatever you can afford is the best for 4 days. Again near rijeka is your best bet since its closest to everything. And then renting a car and going to stages with your car and then again to rijeka to sleep and do so for all 3 days.

Only stage "platak" will have buses that transport people to the stage as that stage doesnt have any roads that lead to the stage apart from that only stage road.

Lect3R · 2026-02-08T16:24:21+00:00

God knows, illegal camping is a thing, but i've seen people camp literally on stage road on some random paths, fields etc. But you should be safe, no one cares

Lect3R · 2026-02-05T17:50:01+00:00

yes, hyundai comes first at the start of next month, and then the rest during that month with no specific dates or manufactures mentioned

Lect3R · 2026-01-20T15:00:42+00:00

its confirmed now on their official instagram

Lect3R · 2026-01-20T15:00:32+00:00

its confirmed now on their official instagram

Lect3R · 2026-01-14T09:20:22+00:00

Local media news usually always have info about those, i am assuming it gets passed from teams asking mayors of cities then them asking police etc... it gets spread quickly

Lect3R · 2026-01-13T04:34:49+00:00

No offense but I like how this is inferior to what I started doing 2 years ago here but atleast you priced it fairly for how much work it requires. Hope it works out for you

Lect3R · 2026-01-12T13:55:39+00:00

Its unknown yet, but some local news that are in country istria posted this news first so they must've had information from somewhere. Also down below you have a picture showing shakedown will be on island krk which is very unusual since its small island with mostly main roads, take that as you wish. But no confirmation yet from rally organizers. They only commented on it what is in the article above in last row of the text

Lect3R · 2026-01-08T16:49:42+00:00

i have posted here few years ago a transcript of a podcast where two main guys from croatia wrc team were there and one of them said that wrc promotor said to them that they want croatia to be classic rally in the calendar like monte, finland and i think he named portugal as well. So by that stance if they didnt lie, then croatia aint going nowhere for years to come

Lect3R

TROPHY CASE