The Rally of Sweden 2022 resumed this morning with Special Stage 16 and did so with a sensational twist. The Vindeln 1 saw Kalle Rovanpera win the test once again, with an advantage of 2 “2 over the first rivals. Above all it saw the retirement of Elfyn Evans.
The Welsh driver, second up to this morning, was the author of an accident a few kilometers from the end of the test. Evans lost control of his GR Yaris in a left-hand corner, crashing into a snow bank on the inside of the corner.
His car’s bonnet hooks broke on impact, ending up in front of the windshield, obscuring the Welsh driver’s view. The worst thing is that in the impact against the snow bank it was the radiator that had the worst. In fact, Evans parked his car a few meters after he crashed and for him the retirement materialized.
A black start to the morning for Evans and his navigator, Scott Martin. Since leaving the Service Park, the Toyota crew had to deal with a malfunction of the Compact Dynamics hybrid system and in testing was unable to use the additional thrust guaranteed by the 100 kW electric motor.
Rovanpera, thanks to the victory of this test, has further strengthened his first position in the general classification, while Thierry Neuville has gained a position, climbing second. Esapekka Lappi enters the podium area, so Toyota returns to having two cars in the first three positions, 3 in the first four also considering that of Takamoto Katsuta.
Nice duel between Neuville and Lappi. Before Evans retired he was in third place, but now he is in second place. It will be very difficult for the two to reduce the delay from Rovanpera: the young Finn seems to be the big favorite for the final victory. Meanwhile Gus Greensmith, now the best M-Sport driver, entered the Top 5 even if very far from those preceding him.
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