A tremendous internship. The last test of today's morning lap of the Swedish Rally provided enormous twists and turns that significantly reshaped the general classification of the second event of the 2024 WRC.
Kalle Rovanpera, leader until the end of SS3 of the Rally Sweden, ended up in a snowbank and damaged the rear of his GR Yaris Rally1 and was forced to retire. The accident was not broadcast, at least for now, on video, but the effect was devastating on a sporting level, with the world champion being forced into a sensational retirement while he was already on the run.
That's not all, because another world champion was forced to abandon today's stage. We're talking about Ott Tanak. Having entered the stage third, the Estonian lost control of his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 and ended up skidding to the right and then headed left and crashed into a bank of snow.
The impact damaged the radiator of his i20 and he was forced to exit the special in purely electric mode so as not to further overheat the engine, which was already deprived of coolant. Tanak occupied third position in the general classification.
With the withdrawal of Rovanpera and Tanak, Takamoto Katsuta won Special Stage 4, the long 28.25 kilometer Floda 1, beating teammate Elfyn Evans by 7 tenths. The Japanese, with this result and Rovanpera's withdrawal, became the new leader of the Swedish Rally.
Esapekka Lappi is the first pursuer, but the Hyundai Finn, towards kilometer 10 of the stage, crashed violently into a snow bank, damaging the bodywork of his car in the front left part. At that point, and after seeing Tanak and Rovanpera on the side of the road, he decided to slow down to avoid taking risks. His gap from the event leader is 11.4 seconds.
Elfyn Evans is third at 13″3, fully in the running for second place, while Adrien Fourmaux has risen to fourth place. A good start to the race for the M-Sport driver, even if he took a big risk in the final part of the test, when Tanak's Hyundai i20 N Rally1 came into his path, stopped due to engine overheating, Fourmaux was very good at avoiding it, but suffered quite a scare.
Thierry Neuville, called to open all of today's practices, decided not to take any risks. However, his performance was good and the retirements of his teammate and Rovanpera put him in the Top 5 in the general classification.
Gregoire Munster was unlucky as he had to stop during the test due to a puncture on his front left tyre. The Dutchman stopped to change the wheel, losing over 4 minutes. Lorenzo Bertelli recovers several positions, now 15th overall and quite close to the best in WRC2.
In this regard, an amazing race so far from Oliver Solberg. The Swede has a decidedly higher pace than all his rivals and is leading the overall class classification with a 19.7 margin over the first of his rivals, the Finn Sami Pajari at the wheel of the first Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. Third position for the Estonian Georg Linnamae with the second Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.
The morning lap of the first stage of the 2024 Rally Sweden ends here. The event will resume this afternoon with Special Stage 5, the 10.76 kilometer #42 Brattby 2 which will start at 2.36pm Italian time, when the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 of Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe will enter the test.
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