The afternoon lap of the first stage of the Swedish Rally risks becoming in all respects the most sensational half-day of the last few years as far as the WRC is concerned.
Esapekka Lappi won the 12.36 kilometer SS6 Norrby 2, nibbling away almost all of the gap he had towards the leader of the event, Takamoto Katsuta, author of the third time in the special, but who now has the Finn on his tail.
The fight for first place – at least today – will probably be decided in the next special. Katsuta will start it with just three tenths of an advantage over Lappi in a test of over 28 kilometers to be played in the dark, with the sun already set.
Georg Linnamae placed between the two in the test, doing well to confirm himself with the first Rally2, a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, after the scratch obtained in SS5. Fabrizio Zaldivar also did very well with the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, fourth ahead of the usual Oliver Solberg, increasingly fifth in the overall general classification.
Worth noting is the engine problem that afflicted Thierry Neuville before entering practice. The world championship leader had to get out of his I20 N Rally1 before the start of the test to try to restart his car. After a few attempts, helped by navigator Martijn Wydaeghe, he succeeded in his aim, but entered the test after Evans.
Neuville arrived at Time Control 4 minutes late: this cost him 40 seconds to add to the Belgian's overall time. Neuville, with this problem, actually slipped to 13th position in the general classification.
Important change in the general classification involving Adrien Fourmaux and Elfyn Evans. The Welshman entered testing first due to the engine problem that affected Neuville and, thus, lost several seconds, allowing the Frenchman from M-Sport to even climb third, on the virtual podium.
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