Sensational in Sweden, it must be said. The first special stage of the afternoon lap of the first stage offered an unexpected surprise: the 10.76 kilometer PS5 #42 Brattby 2 was won by a Rally2, that of Georg Linnamae.
The Estonian driver, at the wheel of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, stopped the clock in 6'50″6, ahead of 4 other Rally2s, a symptom of how, step after step, the surface has been improving. The snow, which has fallen heavily since this morning, for once it penalized the Rally1s, which saw themselves outclassed by the lower class cars.
Linnamae preceded Oliver Solberg by 2″4, who is increasingly leading the WRC2 class and even climbed to fifth position in the general classification after overtaking Thierry Neuville, who was still struggling with grip as he was forced to open all the special tests on Friday.
Third time for Mikko Heikkila in the second Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, just 2 tenths slower than Solberg. Fourth place for another Finn, Lauri Joona on the second Fabia RS Rally2, while the Top 5 is completed by Fabrizio Zaldivar, fifth at 4″6 from the top of the stage rankings.
The first Rally1 is Esapekka Lappi's Hyundai i20 N. The Finn started off very strongly this afternoon, thus halving the gap that separated him from leader Takamoto Katsuta. Now the Japanese driver from Toyota Gazoo Racing has a 5″3 advantage over his former teammate, with the game fully back for success.
The second and last Rally1 in the Top 10 is that of Katsuta, in tenth position. Between Lappi and the Japanese there are also Sami Pajari, Roope Korhonen and Emil Lindholm, all with Rally2 cars.
The fight for the third step of the podium also unexpectedly reopens, with Adrien Fourmaux author of a good performance among the Rally1s and now 2″4 behind Elfyn Evans. The Welshman had the same problems suffered by Neuville for entering the try second.
#WRC #Rally #Sweden #PS5 #Linnamae #scratch #Rally2
