Ott Tanak took a solid and careful WRC Rally Sweden win ahead of Hyundai pair of Craig Breen and Thierry Neuville.
Thursday:
Kalle Rovanperä took the early initiative at Rally Sweden, opening up an early lead after a strong run through Thursday evening’s opening stage. Rovanperä, who also posted the fastest time in shakedown, outpaced M-Sport Ford Puma rival Ott Tänak by 1.6sec in his Toyota GR Yaris, mastering the twists and turns of the curtain-raising Umeå Sprint on the outskirts of the host city.
The Finn is bidding for back-to-back Rally Sweden victories this week and will open the road on Friday. While that’s often seen as a disadvantage on winter rallies, this time Rovanperä’s early starting position worked to his favour, as the series of tight junctions were less rutted than they were for later runners.
Third place went to Rovanperä’s team-mate Elfyn Evans, who ended 3.1sec off the pace. The Welshman will begin Friday’s opening leg just eight-tenths of a second clear of Hyundai newbie Esapekka Lappi, with an ill Thierry Neuville – also driving an i20 N – another 1.1sec behind in fifth overall. Takamoto Katsuta’s cautious approach earned the Yaris hotshot sixth overall ahead of Craig Breen and Pierre-Louis Loubet, while WRC2 hopefuls Jari Huttunen and Ole Christian Veiby round off the overnight top 10.
Friday:
Craig Breen moved to the top of the leaderboard after a frantic Friday at Rally Sweden, but a fast-finishing Ott Tänak is hot on his heels. The Irishman trailed the man who replaced him at M-Sport Ford for the first half of the day before unleashing an early afternoon attack on the Estonian, establishing control as his low starting position offered superior traction on the increasingly rutted second pass.
He outpaced the entire field by 7.8sec on Brattby 2 to go in front, then extended his buffer to 10.5sec with another benchmark time on the very next test. Tänak, however, fought back as darkness fell, reducing the overnight deficit to just 2.6sec. Breen, who is contesting a part-programme aboard a Hyundai i20 N this season, was unperturbed by Tänak’s late charge.
Although Tänak’s pace represented a significant step-up compared with last month’s Rallye Monte-Carlo, the Estonian was not overly positive at close of play. He was pushing his Puma to the absolute limit but felt like the stage times didn’t reflect this. Esapekka Lappi made it two Hyundai cars inside the top three with a solid drive on his second rally for the team. A high-speed spin after overshooting a junction on SS6 was the only real slip-up for the Finn, who trails Tänak by just 8.6sec heading into day three.
A further 15.3sec behind in fourth overall was Elfyn Evans, the highest-placed Toyota Gazoo Racing driver. He initially struggled for confidence on the fast-paced stages but improved throughout the day, surviving a brush with an infamous snowbank while climbing the leaderboard. Evans’ ascent was partially aided by the fact that team-mate Takamoto Katsuta rolled his GR Yaris on the second pass of Brattby. The Japanese hotshot retired shortly afterwards with radiator damage, putting an end to what had been a promising start.
Kalle Rovanperä, leader following Thursday night’s opener, dropped down the order after spending the day on road-opening duties. Grip was hard to come by for the defending champion as he swept a clean line in the loose snow. He trailed colleague Evans by just 4.6sec. Sixth overall wasn’t where an under-the-weather Thierry Neuville had intended to be after the first eight stages, but the Belgian could do no more as he battled with understeer on his Hyundai.
Superficial damage to the front and rear aero – inflicted by various run-ins with snowbanks – didn’t help matters. Pierre-Louis Loubet made some major strides in his Puma, gaining confidence with every stage as he got to grips with snow and ice. A top-two time on SS5 was proof of the Frenchman’s development and he arrived back to Umeå a respectable seventh overall.
Saturday:
Ott Tänak unleashed a night-time frenzy on Saturday at Rally Sweden, demoting Craig Breen to second overall heading into Sunday’s three-stage finale. The duelling duo traded times over the course of the rally’s longest day, with Breen holding on to a marginal advantage at the halfway point. As the snow-covered roads became more and more rutted in the fading light of the afternoon loop, Tänak began to reel in his Hyundai Motorsport rival – arriving to the start of the penultimate Sävar test just half a second in arrears after Breen had suffered time loss with a delaminated tyre.
There, Tänak excelled in the night-time conditions, with the split times showing he was on course to outpace Breen by around 10sec. In another dramatic twist, however, the Estonian suffered near-identical tyre troubles to his opponent – but still managed to better the Irishman’s time by 2.8sec and snatch the lead. Tänak was faster again as Breen complained of a hybrid issue in the final Umeå blast. He ended 8.6sec to the good, laying the foundations for M-Sport Ford’s first victory in over a year.
Esapekka Lappi fell down the order after running wide on a left-hander in SS13, plunging his Hyundai into a snowbank. The Finn’s demise opened the door for Thierry Neuville and Kalle Rovanperä to fight for the final podium spot. Rovanperä, driving a Toyota GR Yaris, held the upper hand until late in the day, but he gave way to Hyundai’s Neuville in the final stage as his tyres wore out. The pair were split by 3.8sec at close of play, with Neuville only 15.1sec adrift of Breen.
Elfyn Evans lacked confidence aboard his Yaris and subsequently fell behind the aforementioned pair, ending the day more than half a minute further back. Pierre-Louis Loubet brought his Puma home in sixth overall ahead of WRC2 leader Oliver Solberg, who holds a commanding lead in the premier support category. Ole Christian Veiby, Sami Pajari and Nikolay Gryazin complete the leaderboard.
Sunday:
Ott Tänak secured a pivotal win at Rally Sweden on Sunday afternoon – ending M-Sport Ford’s victory drought on only his second FIA World Rally Championship event since returning to the team. The Estonian scored his second Sweden success by 18.7sec ahead of Hyundai i20 N driver Craig Breen, taking the lead of the series by three points after round two of 13.
Tänak drove for M-Sport between 2011 and 2017 before spending several seasons with rivals Toyota and Hyundai. He re-signed for the British squad at the beginning of this season and today’s result marks the team’s first triumph since Rallye Monte-Carlo last year – 385 days ago. Part-time driver Breen led for half of the snow and ice fixture but Tänak, driving a Puma, was always hot on his heels. The Estonian surpassed his rival with a night-time charge on the penultimate day and never looked back.
Team tactics saw Breen deliberately check in one-minute late to the pre-Wolf Power Stage regroup, lumbering himself with a 10-second penalty to promote colleague Thierry Neuville into the runner-up spot. The aim was to give the Belgian – who drives full-time – more valuable drivers’ championship points. However, those plans didn’t work out for Hyundai as Neuville dropped time with a scrappy run through the finale – moving Breen back in front by just 1.3sec.
Kalle Rovanperä, driving for Toyota Gazoo Racing, had been locked into a tight scrap with Neuville early in the day, but he fell out of the battle when his rival bolted on four fresh Pirelli tyres for the final two tests. Rovanperä finished just 5.1sec adrift of the podium – ensuring the Japanese marque remains on top of the manufacturers’ standings by 14 points ahead of Hyundai.
Elfyn Evans completed the top five almost a minute behind his team-mate on a weekend when he lacked confidence. Pierre-Louis brought his Puma home a lonely sixth, overcoming a technical scare in the final stage by driving to the finish in hybrid mode. Esapekka Lappi was left to rue what could have been after a costly excursion on Saturday afternoon dropped him out of the podium battle. The Hyundai newcomer fought back to finish seventh overall by the end of the four-day fixture.
Here’s WRC Rally Sweden results: https://www.wrc.com/en/wrcplus/live-timing/
[Note: The story is as per press release]
