The first Croatia Rally took place in 1974 under the name INA Delta TLX Rally. Within three years it had grown from a regional competition into a national championship event of the former Yugoslavia. The early format featured extremely long itineraries passing through Gorski Kotar, Lika, Primorje, and Continental Croatia, reflecting the ambitious scope the organisers brought to the event from its inception.
International recognition arrived in 1986 when the event entered the FIA calendar, with crews from Austria, Germany, and Czechoslovakia competing on stages at Žumberak, Plešivica, Zagrebačka gora, and Hrvatsko Zagorje. Despite the ongoing Croatian War of Independence in the early 1990s, the rally continued to grow and by 1995 had achieved FIA coefficient 10, with organisers targeting the European Championship's highest coefficient of 20 the following year.
Croatia finally joined the European Rally Championship (ERC) calendar for the 2007 season, becoming the third of ten events on that year's calendar. The inaugural ERC Croatia Rally was won by the domestic crew of Juraj Šebalj and Toni Klinc in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX — a result that gave the home country's rally community a historic victory on the event's first outing at this level. Croatia remained part of the ERC through 2013, with the event relocating during this period: from Zagreb (2007–2009) to Rijeka (2010–2012), and finally to Poreč in Istria for 2013.
The event's records for outright victories through its history belong to Slovenians: driver Branislav Kuzmič and co-driver Rudi Šali each claimed five wins. Croatian crew Juraj Šebalj and Toni Klinc follow with four victories.
Croatia's path to the WRC was years in the making. The campaign began in 2015 under Zrinko Gregurek, Secretary General of the Croatian Car and Karting Federation and a member of the World Motor Sport Council since 2009. Following sustained lobbying and a visit to Zagreb by FIA President Jean Todt in July 2020, the FIA World Motorsport Council confirmed Croatia's inclusion in the 2021 WRC calendar in October 2020.
The 2021 Croatia Rally took place from April 22 to April 25. The rally headquarters, ceremonial start, and finish podium were located in Zagreb, with special stages passing through Karlovac County, Zagreb County, and Krapina-Zagorje County. The event is run entirely on tarmac, using the twisting mountain and forest roads of inland Croatia that distinguish it from other asphalt events on the calendar.
From its earliest years, the Croatia Rally mixed tarmac and gravel surfaces, but has been a fully tarmac event since at least the late 1980s. The WRC-era stages use narrow, technical roads through forests and hills, presenting conditions that challenge drivers with limited visibility corners and surface changes. The Zagreb setting for the rally hub gives the event an urban backdrop — a ceremonial start and finish in the Croatian capital — while the competitive action takes place on rural stages in the surrounding counties.
Croatia Rally's journey from a Yugoslav regional event to a World Rally Championship round over five decades represents one of the more gradual progressions in the sport's history. Its longevity as the longest-running motorsport event in Southeast Europe reflects sustained organisational commitment across political upheaval, economic recession, and multiple venue changes. The WRC inclusion from 2021 brought the event to a global audience and added a new character of roads — Croatian mountain tarmac — to the championship's roster.