Sweden - Tänak leader, the Top 5 in a handkerchief

Although he has taken the reins of the Rally Sweden, Ott Tänak remains under threat from his pursuers who are really not far behind.

Published 14/02/2025 à 17:40

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Rally Sweden – Tänak takes the lead, the Top 5 in a handkerchief

This second loop of Friday has definitely redistributed all the cards. Leader of this Rally from Sweden since Thursday evening, Elfyn Evans saw the competition raise its voice after a relatively quiet morning. First, it was Takamoto Katsuta who came out of the woodwork by taking everyone by surprise during SS5 to set the best time. An operation that allowed him to kill two birds with one stone since the Japanese took advantage of it to also take the lead in the general classification.

The joy was short-lived as his 8 seconds lost during the following special stage saw him fall behind an opportunistic Elfyn Evans, second in SS6 just three tenths behind.Ott Tänak. It was the latter who also scored the nice move of the end of the day since the Estonian completed this second loop of the day as leader of the Rally Sweden. In the short but very fast Bäck special, the 2019 world champion pushed back Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta by 5“8 and 3 seconds respectively to take the lead in the general classification for the first time this weekend.

No reason to cry victory however because Ott Tänak is only half a second ahead of Takamoto Katsuta! Having fallen back to third, Elfyn Evan is only 1“4 behind the leader. Further proof that this Rally Sweden is very competitive, Adrien fourmaux et Thierry Neuville, author of the scratch of the ES7, are only 7“2 and 9“9 from their teammate.

Although he regained some feeling during this second loop, Kalle Rovanperä appears a little further back. The double world champion is 6th, 25 seconds behind Ott Tänak.