Rally Sweden – Evans to spend night as leader, battle remains tight

And yet another change of leader. If Ott Tänak thought he would spend the night in the shoes of the leader of the Rally from Sweden, it was without counting on this night-time ES8, contested around Umea which brought some changes to the general classification.

Indeed, Elfyn Evans clearly had other plans. Although he did not seem happy with his passage, regretting a total lack of grip throughout, the Welshman still managed to set the best time in this 5,16 kilometre sprint, ahead of Thierry Neuville by 6 tenths and Takamoto Katsuta by 1 seconds at the finish line.

This allowed the pilot Toyota to move back into the lead of the general classification of the Rally of Sweden, this time for good as regards this very long day on Friday which began more than 10 hours earlier.

As Saturday dawns with its 7 new special stages, Elfyn Evans leads a pack that is still as tight as ever. His runner-up Takamoto Katsuta is only 0 seconds behind and Ott Tänak is 6 seconds behind. Adrien fourmaux remains in contact with only 7 seconds behind. Thierry Neuville completes the Top 9 at 5 seconds behind the Welshman.

SS8 standings

General classification after SS8

The resumption of the Rally of Sweden is scheduled for 9:10 a.m. this Saturday and will be followed live with commentary on AUTOhebdo.

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