Croatia Rally
The Croatia Rally, also known for most of its existence as the Delta Rally or Croatia Delta Rally, is an international rally racing event based in Poreč in the on the coast of Istria in Croatia. The event is organised by the Croatian Car and Karting Federation and is a round of the European Rally Championship, the Serbian Rally Championship, the Slovenian Rally Championship. In most years it is a round of the Croatian Rally Championship. The event had been a round of the Yugoslavian Rally Championship. It has been a tarmac rally since at least the late 1980s. In 2011 the rallies' histories became split as the Croatia Rally and the Delta Rally became two separate events with the Delta Rally returning to the Croatia Delta Rally's former home of Zagreb.
First run in 1974 as the INA-Delta TLX Rally as a round of the regional Croatian championship, it was held in the Delnice-Rijeka area, slightly inland of its current Poreč home. The event was promoted to the Yugoslavian championship in 1977 and acquired a finish in the regional city of Zagreb. The 1986 event was an invitational only event held as a candidate event for the European Rally Championship. Under the co-efficient system the rally varied in importance within the European championship drifting through co-efficients 2, 5 and 10 in the 1990s. With the rally based in the north western part of Croatia it was able to continue during the years of the Croatian War of Independence.
In 2004 the rally was demoted to the European Rally Cup East as the co-efficient system fragmented into minor championships titled "Cups" before returning to the European championship in 2007. 2011 saw the rally return to its original Rijeka region before moving to its current location in 2013 as the event celebrated its 40th anniversary, while successfully maintaining its position on the calendar of the ERC after the merger of the ERC and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, although the rally was moved from its traditional May date to a September date.
In 2011 as the Croatia Rally moved to Rijeka, the Delta rally broke away and re-established itself in the Zagreb area as a round of the Croatian championship before being added to the Central European Zone series in 2013.
Yugoslav drivers won the first 19 years of the event with Brane Kuzmič winning five times in a six-year period driving a Renault 5. Austrian driver Raimund Baumschlager was the first foreign winner in 1993 as the rally upgraded its international status. Enrico Bertone became the first foreign repeat winner in 1999 but locals continued to have a strong influence with Juraj Šebalj winning three times in the mid-2000s. Šebalj would also win the Delta Rally another five times post-split.
List of winners
Sourced in part from:[1][2][3]
References
External links
