Rovanperä and Solberg in form in Sweden, M-Sport in tough

Le Rally from Sweden headed towards the north of the country in order to find winter conditions worthy of its reputation. This 2022 edition is already fulfilling its objective, with a first selection made during the morning stages of the first stage on Friday February 25.

A typical element of this icy event, the walls of snow trapped a big fish from SS2: Craig Breen (Ford). The Irishman confused speed and haste by making two errors in the space of a few kilometers. The second fault was punished with a proper crash in the snowdrift, his stage ended pitifully.

Another Video of Breen's off on SS2 #RallySweden #WRCLive

🎥 Adam15 via YouTube pic.twitter.com/yMb1Gj0tVo

— Markus Ippach 🇪🇺🤝🇺🇦 (@ma_ipp) February 26, 2022

The last special of the morning allowed Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) to escape to the top of the rankings. The Finn returns to the service park with a nice margin of 10”4 over the astonishing Oliver Solberg (Hyundai). The 21-year-old Swede, son of 2003 world champion Petter Solberg, dominated his experienced teammates Ott Tänak (5e) and Thierry Neuville (4th), who had to urgently resolve an electronic fault during the connection route.

Toyota Gazoo Racing finds their former hope Esapekka Lappi in Sweden after a first official contract in 2017 and 2018. The Finn did honor to this promotion by surreptitiously taking control of the event in SS2, a first since Turkey in September 2019. At the time, he was driving a Citroën C3.

On the side of M-Sport Ford, without Craig Breen, the party is less crazy. Gus Greensmith hit a wall of snow and drove carefully, but not as much asAdrien fourmaux. The Frenchman, guilty of a big mistake and a spectacular accident at Monte-Carlo, was ordered to reach the finish line at all costs on Sunday noon, even if it meant taking the easy pedal.

In WRC2, Ole Christian Veiby (Volkswagen) leads ahead of Jari Huttunen (Skoda). Defending champion Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda) started the event cautiously (4th at 17”5). The rally will resume at 14:45 p.m. for the second loop of the day.

General classification :