The spectacular round of the Rally of Swedenvalid for the second round of the WRC 2022 World Championship. After the conclusion of the first day, which had rewarded Thierry Neuville in the role of provisional leader of the standings, the Belgian had to surrender his position to the Finn Kalle Rovanperä, author of an almost entirely error-free Saturday morning. The number 69 of Toyota, in fact, momentarily leads the ranking with almost 5 seconds ahead of the Welshman Elfyn Evansand 12 from the compatriot Esapekka Lappi. A first part of the day, however, which has turned into a real one disappointment for Neuville himselfslipped from the top to 4th place.
A sporty traumatic awakening therefore for the Hyundai driver, already the protagonist of an unconvincing performance already during the PS8, closed only in 6th place. At the same time, Rovanperä took advantage of Neuville’s ‘no’ moment, beating him by only 7 tenths in the general classification thanks to an excellent time, not enough to conquer the top of the heat, obtained instead by Evans. With the PS9 already canceled a few days ago due to the presence of reindeer on the course – in pure Scandinavian style – the Finn from Toyota then consolidated his leadership with the best time in PS10, doing better than Evans and Neuville, redeeming himself with a good 3rd place in front of Esapekka Lappi, who finished 4th despite a cross with a ‘kiss’ attached to the snow bank. At the end of the morning, Rovanperä can finally enjoy the first position in the general classification thanks to another important performance in PS11, with the second best time obtained behind the Irish Craig Breen, who thus manages to redeem the error on the first day with a prominent statement. At the same time, Neuville instead commits a ‘fatal’ flaw in the fight for the top positions, as evidenced by the disappointing 10th place in the heat. While waiting to recharge their batteries during the lunch break, the drivers will return to battle starting at 14:40 on the Kroksjö 2 course, where they will present themselves with this ranking situation.
Rally Sweden | Ranking after the SS11 – Top-10
Pos. | Pilot | Car | Time / Gap |
1 | K. ROVANPERÄ | Toyota | 1: 23.58.2 |
2 | E. EVANS | Toyota | +4.8 |
3 | E. LAPPI | Toyota | +12.0 |
4 | T. NEUVILLE | Hyundai | +15.1 |
5 | O. SOLDBERG | Hyundai | +51.5 |
6 | T. KATSUTA | Toyota | +1: 23.6 |
7 | A. FORMAUX | Ford | +2: 01.0 |
8 | G. GREENSMITH | Ford | +2: 14.2 |
9 | A. MIKKELSEN | Skoda (WRC2) | +4: 17.4 |
10 | O. VEIBY | Volkswagen (WRC2) | +4: 22.2 |
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