Special Stage 17 of the Rally of Sweden, Sarsjoliden 1, was not only a simple way to become familiar with the event that will host the Power Stage, but also to ignite a very important fight: that for the second place in the general classification of the event between Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi.
In this special the Toyota driver achieved the second best time, while the Belgian of Hyundai, after a great first sector, gradually lost ground. The Hyundai has improved since the Monte-Carlo release, but at the moment there seems to be no comparison with the performance guaranteed by the GR Yaris.
Lappi, in fact, got close to Neuville and to second place in the general classification when there are just 2 tests left at the end of the hostilities. Now between the two there are 3 “2. A trifle.
The special stage was won by Ott Tanak, now out of the fight for the Top 10 after retiring in the last few days of competition due to a problem with the hybrid system. Kalle Rovanpera instead preferred to manage his advantage over his rivals (24 “7 on Neuville) and think about managing the tires in view of the PS18 and the Power Stage.
Crystallized all the other positions in the WRC, as far as Rally1 is concerned. The fight between Norwegians in WRC2 is very interesting. Andreas Mikkkelsen is in front with Team TokSport’s Skoda Fabia Rally2, but Ole Christian Veiby has made up for it.
Now the gap between the two is just 4 “8 thanks to an excellent performance by Veiby in PS17. This has allowed the Norwegian – who runs here with a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 – to reduce his gap from his compatriot and reopen the games. for the class success. Nikolay Gryazin, on the other hand, is in third place in the category, but 31 “0 behind Veiby.
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