Kalle Rovanpera secured a 1.4 second advantage in the opening stage of Rally Sweden. The FIA World Rally Championship’s second round commenced in Sweden with a short 5.16km stage. As expected, Rovanpera and Halttunen emerged victorious in their Toyota Gazoo Racing Yaris Rally1, leading by 1.4 seconds.
Starting in seventh position provided Rovanpera with an advantage over Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe, the early championship leaders in their Hyundai Shell Mobis i20 N. Neuville, who won the Monte Carlo Rally, acted as a snow plough for the following drivers. Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston secured second place, followed by Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin in third, giving Toyota a one-two-three start. Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja finished fourth, just one-tenth of a second behind Evans.
Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria achieved the same time as Tänak in their M-Sport Ford Puma, an impressive feat considering Fourmaux’s limited experience on snow. Neuville’s position as the first car on the road resulted in a 2.3-second drop, placing him in sixth position. Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm were a surprising seventh, benefiting from being the last Rally1 runners and having favorable conditions. Lappi had set the pace in Thursday’s shakedown stage, making his position even more unexpected.
Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka claimed eighth place in the second Puma Rally 1, only 0.4 seconds ahead of the leading WRC2 team. Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmonson, the favorites in the WRC2 category and last year’s winners, set an impressive time in their Toksport-run Skoda Fabia RS. Their closest competitor, Roope Korhonen and Anssi Viinikka in the Toyota Yaris WRC2, finished three seconds behind. Sami Pajari and Enni Mälkönen in their Yaris were 4.1 seconds off the pace.
Friday’s racing will consist of seven stages totaling 108km.
According to the Source motorsportweek.com