What on earth were they thinking?

Video captured at last weekend’s 2023 Rally Croatia shows several spectators brawling with officials on an active rally stage.

They are cleared off the road seconds before the number 17 Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid of Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais speeds past – airborne.

A video shared on Twitter by motorsport journalist Haris Mrkonja shows two men arguing on the hill above the road.

Two other men step forward to intervene, but the fight escalates and spills onto the road.

Panicked officials – aware the high-speed rally course is active and a competition car is due to fly past at any moment – struggle to push the men off the road before the next car blazes past the group.

The location of the fight is a strip of road that is the landing area for cars after a high-speed jump, making it a great spectacle for onlookers but a blind spot for drivers.

The footage shows just how close the spectators came to disaster, with a mere two-seconds between the last official scrambling to safety and the WRC Yaris passing over the jump.

Local Croatian media reported three men involved in the altercation were arrested while other offenders are still being investigated.

The Croatian round of the WRC (World Rally Championship) was won by English driver Elfyn Evans in the number 33 Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid.

Sébastien Ogier finished 1m 28s behind in fifth place, and is now tied with Evans for the overall championship with 69 points after four events.