Rovanperä dominates the Shakedown in Sweden

For the first warm-up of the Rally Sweden before the 17 special stages, Kalle Rovanperä put in a great performance.

Published on 24/02/2022 à 13:34

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Kalle Rovanperä during the 2022 Rally Sweden Shakedown © Nikos Katikis / DPPI

For this 68th Rally from Sweden, the Shakedown joins the town of Djäkneböle in Klabböle, 7,59 km separating them. A fast course which promised tight times. In terms of weather conditions. Temperatures are close to 0°C and a mix of rain and snow is falling, providing slippery terrain with little grip for the drivers.

Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) est le premier à s’aligner sur la ligne de départ. Dès son premier passage, il signe une moyenne de 125,98km/h. Son premier chrono n’a été battu que par une seule voiture, la Hyundai de Thank you for a few tenths. The Finn finishes with a final passage at 3:22.4 which marks the best time of this appetizer.

The morning was more difficult for Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), Craig Breen (Ford) and Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota). The Irishman and the Belgian hit a wall of snow which caused them to lose considerable time. For the Japanese, an electrical problem occurred during his first time, he lost almost a minute at the start.

For the Rally1s, the weekend promises to be tight. On 9 of the 10 crews, only 3.3s separate them. This gap announces a tight rally with a very fast profile. To Adrien fourmaux (Ford), the weekend promises to be a little more difficult. The Frenchman is more than 7 seconds behind the best time. Ultimately, Toyota and Hyundai share the first four times of this Shakedown.

Finally, in Rally2, Nicolay Gryazin (Skoda) set the best time (3:33.4) ahead of the two Norwegians Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda) and Ole Christian Veiby (Volkswagen) who achieved a similar timer in 3:34.9 on their third pass.