This year Toyota Racing has decided to bet on the growth of Takamoto Katsuta and, according to the result of the Swedish Rally Stage 4, the bet may make sense.
In fact, the Japanese won the last special of the morning lap, the 25.81-kilometre Botsmark 1, beating his rivals by just a few tenths. The first 4 of the stage are enclosed in just 7 tenths despite this being the longest race of the day.
Katsuta, taking advantage of a good moment to enter practice, beat his teammate and reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera by 3 tenths. Ott Tanak, on the other hand, recorded half a second of delay and Craig Breen 7 tenths.
It’s encouraging to see three different cars packed into such a short time (Katsuta and Rovanpera in the Toyota, Tanak in the Ford and Breen in the Hyundai), but the opening lap of the first stage was scored by Ott Tanak.
The Estonian M-Sport Ford driver finished the provisional general classification as leader, a sign that the rally-test carried out last week served to gain confidence with the car and also find an already good set-up to tackle the icy surfaces of the this morning.
Behind him, separated by 2″1 and 4″1 respectively, are Craig Breen and Esapekka Lappi. The two Hyundai Motorsport drivers took advantage of their good starting positions, but it is equally clear how comfortable they are on the snow, despite their lack of experience behind the wheel of the i20 N Rally1.
On the other hand, the one who surprises for the constancy of the excellent times he manages to sign is Kalle Rovanpera. The world champion, who had a difficult start in today’s first round due to very soft snow found in PS2, then gradually made up ground.
The 21-year-old from Toyota Gazoo Racing entered the track in the following practice sessions finding a much more icy and favorable surface for his starting position. Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans went into trouble. The first of the two due to a setting far from his preferences: a lot of understeer and little precision in the corners. The second, on the other hand, seems to be the apathetic Evans of 2022, but he too probably slowed down by a set-up not suited to his preferences.
The last professional driver at the wheel of a Rally1 is Pierre-Louis Loubet, eighth and already 37 seconds behind his teammate. Lorenzo Bertelli grits his teeth, in Sweden at his debut on the private GR Yaris Rally1. The Italian managed to get into the Top 10 by taking advantage of the longest stage and is now 1″2 behind Oliver Solberg who precedes him in the general classification.
As for the WRC2, it is the Swede ex Hyundai who leads the category standings. The 21-year-old son of the family, at the wheel of a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, has a margin of 6″8 over the first of his rivals, the excellent and young Sami Pajari, also on a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2.
The Finnish talent overtook Teemu Suninen in the last special, third with the Hyundai i20 N Rally2. Worth noting is the mistake made by Emil Lindholm in the early stages of the morning lap: the reigning world champion ended up crashing into a snow bank which then forced him to slow down and stop to remove the ice from the car’s air intakes. his Skoda Fabia. Lindholm restarted, but losing over 1 minute and 40 seconds from the best.
The Friday morning ride ends here. Rally Sweden will resume this afternoon with Special Stage 5, Brattby 2 of 10.76 kilometres. The first car, the Toyota GR Yaris number 69 driven by Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen, will enter the test at 14:53 Italian time.
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