Thierry Neuville responds to Esapekka Lappi’s attacks by winning the penultimate stage of the Rally of Sweden, the second round of the WRC 2022. The Hyundai driver achieved the best time in Special Stage 18, the Vindeln 2, ahead of his direct rival in the fight for the second place in the general classification of the event.
Neuville beat the Finn from Toyota by 5 tenths. Very little, but this allowed the Belgian to increase his small advantage in the general classification bringing it to 3 “7 when there is no special stage at the end of the hostilities.
More detached all the others, starting with Kalle Rovanpera, third in the test at 3 “1 from Neuville. The Finn, however, is firmly at the top of the standings and has decided to manage his margin (and his tires) in view of the Power Stage also taking into account a problem in the operation of the hybrid on his Yaris Rally1.
In fact, Kalle will try to bring home as many points as possible, because the next appointment could be less easy for him, considering that it will be held on asphalt (Croatia). Accumulating a good lead in the standings this weekend could be crucial to then arrive in Portugal again as the leader of the Drivers’ overall standings.
Good fourth place in the special by Gus Greensmith, the only M-Sport driver still fighting for an important place in the Top 10 after the retirements of Craig Breen and Adrien Fourmaux.
Big changes in WRC2. Ole Christian Veiby lost nearly 20 seconds to Andreas Mikkelsen due to a spin. This mistake almost handed over the class success to the Norwegian of the TokSport team.
Nikolay Gryazin, just when he looked like he could get back into the fight for second place, made a mistake in approaching a left-hand corner, ending up slipping outside the corner and getting stuck in the snow. So Jari Huttunen climbed to third place in his class in a race in which he certainly did not shine.
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