The first stage of the 2023 Swedish Rally goes on file with a ranking that leaves several opportunities to see it change already in the first round tomorrow morning.
Kalle Rovanpera triumphed in SS8, the 5.16 kilometer Umea Sprint, but all eyes were on the duel between Craig Breen and Ott Tanak for the first position in the general classification.
As for the test, Ott Tanak was the winner. The Estonian took the second time half a second behind Rovanpera, while Craig Breen didn’t go beyond sixth, 4″3 behind the reigning world champion.
Yet in the overall standings we still find the Irishman from Hyundai Motorsport ahead. Breen had a great day, but in the last two rounds he had to grit his teeth and resist the return of the M-Sport Ford driver.
From a margin of more than 10 seconds, Breen now sees Tanak just 2″6 away. This leaves any discussion open for leadership and tomorrow will be a very important day to define who of the two will have the greatest chance of success.
In both cases, there will be news: either Tanak’s return to victory as a driver of the M-Sport team, or the first victory in Breen’s career in the WRC. An event, the one on the Swedish snow, which could give even more uncertainty to this 2023 World Rally Championship.
An excellent day Esapekka Lappi closes in third place. The Finnish of Hyundai, although he was the author of a few too many mistakes, completed SS8 and the day in third place in the general classification. Today it’s hard to imagine him fighting for success, but if tomorrow he can keep up with today’s pace and eliminate mistakes, then he could also broaden the already exciting fight for success.
Behind the first three, here are the three riders who opened all the day’s special stages today due to the general classification. Elfyn Evans is fourth at 26″5 from Breen and is chased 4″6 away from the reigning world champion, Kalle Rovanpera.
The 21-year-old Finn had a special day. In two out of 7 specials he was penalized by fresh snow, but in the others the icy surface allowed him to lose much less than expected and the fifth place in the general is a panacea for him in view of tomorrow.
Thierry Neuville is in full battle for the Top 5, considering that he is 5″7 behind Rovanpera. The feeling, however, is that it will be difficult for him to fight with the GR Yaris and that the Japanese cars, with the same starting positions , are still by far the cars to beat.
Pierre-Louis Loubet is seventh and last of the official drivers behind the wheel of a Rally1. The Frenchman from M-Sport Ford is learning the courses and has only been competitive at times. Lorenzo Bertelli, on the other hand, occupied the tenth position until the afternoon lap, when a series of mistakes caused him to slip several positions back.
As for WRC2, Olivers Solberg is dominating the category at the wheel of the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2. The Swede has a margin of 13 seconds over the equally young Sami Pajari, his brand mate, and 35 seconds over Jari Huttunen, another rival but with a Skoda Fabia R5 built 7 years ago.
The Finn, however, has to deal with Ole-Christian Veiby, fourth and just 1″9 behind him. The season of the reigning WRC2 world champion, Emil Lindholm, starts badly. During the morning he ended up in a bench of snow, thus losing several tens of seconds which cut him off from the fight for the podium and for the victory.Teemu Suninen was also unlucky, slowed down by an engine problem on his Hyundai i20 N Rally2.
The first stage of Rally Sweden ends here. The rally will resume tomorrow with SS9, the 12.54km Norrby 1. The first car will enter the special at 08:05 Italian time.
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