The second stage of the Swedish Rally seemed to have started in a soporific way, with a SS9 that had little impact on the general classification. The PS10, however, literally upset everything.
The duel for success, which seemed like it could last all day, for first place was suddenly interrupted. Takamoto Katsuta, focused on recovering the few tenths that separated him from leader Esapekka Lappi, made a mistake in the 14.23 kilometer Sarsjoliden 1 and was forced to retire.
The Japanese driver from Toyota Gazoo Racing, the only real rival of his friend and former teammate Lappi, misplaced a right-hand corner, losing the rear of his Yaris Rally1. The car hit the snow bank on the outside of the curve, then pendulumed and stuck its nose into the same snow bank.
Katsuta's GR Yaris was stuck and damaged at the front. This opened the way for Lappi, sixth in the special but now increasingly first and launched towards what would be the second success of his career in the WRC after the one obtained in 2017, on his debut, with the Toyota Yaris WRC Plus.
Katsuta's retirement has opened the doors of second position to an always solid Adrien Fourmaux. The Frenchman from the M-Sport team is struggling with Elfyn Evans, who started strong again to try to snatch the position from him and climb into the second place.
Fourmaux, however, did well to repel the Welshman's attacks and now has a margin of 11″4 over his rival. The two will compete for second position until the end of the day.
The Rally2 cars of Oliver Solberg and Georg Linnamae slip back – understandably. The two great protagonists and surprises of the first stage are starting to pay a much less favorable price than yesterday's. That's why they were overtaken by both Fourmaux and Evans.
furthermore, behind them Thierry Neuville is also returning. The Belgian, who yesterday finished in 11th place due to an engine failure on his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 and a 40-second penalty for arriving late at a Time Control, is now sixth.
Ahead of the world championship leader is Linnamae, just 3.9 seconds behind. To catch up with Solberg, however, he will have to do much more. But by maintaining the pace shown in the first two tests today, he shouldn't have too many problems moving up to fourth. place behind his main rival for the world title.
#WRC #Rally #Sweden #SS910 #Katsuta #Lappi #run
