The second round of the WRC world championship, valid for the Rally of Swedenended with Thierry Neuville leads the provisional standings after seven heats played on Friday. The Belgian of the Hyundaieager for redemption after the anything but positive test in Monte Carlo, in fact finished in provisional first place in front of the Finnish Toyota Kalle Rovamperädetached from just over 4 seconds from the top of the standings. The virtual podium then saw the presence of the Welshman Elfyn Evans: the latter, despite having occupied the leadership in the last power stages, was unable to confirm himself in the seventh and last test of the day, slipping from 1st to 3rd place.
A Friday that, moreover, had initially started in the morning with the success of the Estonian Ott Tanak, who thus celebrated his debut in the Swedish Rally in the best possible way with an advantage of only 4 tenths of a second from Rovamperä, protagonist in yesterday’s shakedown. An all-Nordic podium that was completed by landlord Oliver Soldberg, third with his Hyundai.
However, starting from the second test, it was in a particular way to appear on the scene Esapekka Lappi, who had taken the lead right in front of Toyota’s Finnish compatriot. However, the session was conditioned by the display of the red flag for the road exit of Craig Breen, with the Irishman who damaged his M-Sport ‘involving’ Neuville, Katsuta and Greensmith, who will then be assigned an office time by the Race Direction. The direct challenge between the Finns, also re-proposed in PS3, saw Rovampera re-emerge, with the colorless performance of Lappi who offered a precious assist to the Belgian Neuville, who exploited the false step of the Toyota driver number 4 to get back in the standings. Yet, starting above all from the fourth test, Rovamperä was almost no longer able to fully confirm his form, thus opening the doors to the winner of the last edition of 2020: Elfyn Evans. The Welshman, in fact, leaps to the lead of the general classification at the end of a round characterized by Katsuta’s error, which in turn allows Greensmith to recover. The free fall of Rovampera is also repeated in the fifth stage, where it re-emerges instead Tanak, winner of the first round. Together with the Estonian, who nevertheless fails to unseat Evans, the surprising Lappi is once again proposed, stopping the clock with a valid time for 3rd place.
Not even the time to rejoice at the success that a cold shower immediately arrives for Tanak: the Hyundai color bearer, thanks to a problem found in the hybrid kit, must in fact withdraw from the heats to starting right on the eve of PS6, which sees the best time of Neuville. Even in this case, the Belgian’s chronometric response is not enough to remove Evans from the leadership, with Rovamperä redeeming himself from his previous performance by conquering second place in the sixth stage.
The latter closes the first of the three days of the Rally of Sweden with the best time in the Sprint Umea, insufficient to be able to start again on Saturday at the top of the standings. The Finn, while taking advantage of a colorless performance by Evans, is unable to do better than Thierry Neuville, who finishes on Friday as leader of the ranking right in front of Rovamperä and Evans themselves. The winner of the 2018 Rally of Sweden is expected for the eighth heat on Saturday 26 February, scheduled in Brattby at 09:00, in an edition that will go down in history due to the simultaneous absence of Sebastien Ogier and Sebastien Loeb, for the first time after 16 years.
Rally Sweden | Ranking after the PS7 – Top-10
Pos. | Pilot | Car | Time / Gap |
1 | T. NEUVILLE | Hyundai | 1: 02.31.2 |
2 | K. ROVAMPERÄ | Toyota | +4.3 |
3 | E. EVANS | Toyota | +7.4 |
4 | E. LAPPI | Toyota | +8.8 |
5 | O. SOLDBERG | Hyundai | +28.1 |
6 | T. KATSUTA | Toyota | +1: 18.9 |
7 | A. FORMAUX | Ford | +1: 32.9 |
8 | G. GREENSMITH | Ford | +1: 48.1 |
9 | A. MIKKELSEN | Skoda (WRC2) | +3: 08.9 |
10 | O. VEIBY | Volkswagen (WRC2) | +3: 13.9 |
#WRC #Rally #Sweden #PS7 #Neuville #ahead #FormulaPassionit