Rovanperä leads the way, nothing is decided in Sweden

It is definitely a Rally of Sweden very disputed and above all undecided. With no less than 7 changes of leader in 13 special stages, the race for victory, currently led by Kalle Rovanperä, is set to last until the end.

Aux commandes du Rallye de Suède à l’issue de la boucle matinale, Kalle Rovanperä avait vu Elfyn Evans revenir au contact dès la première spéciale de l’après-midi. Avec le temps scratch de l’ES11, le Gallois se remettait dans le coup et revenait à seulement 1“2 du Finlandais qui ne semblait pas dérangé par la pression mise par son coéquipier du Toyota Gazoo Racing.

Awakened by the return of the 2021 vice-champion, the son of Harri Rovanperä immediately set the record straight by giving him 4”5 in the following SS. With this 4th scratch of the weekend, the youngest winner in the history of the World Rally Championship then gave himself some breathing room by relegating Elfyn Evans to almost 6 seconds before the last pass on Saturday.

Very fast and comfortable with his Yaris Rally1 hybrid on the Swedish snow, Kalle Rovanperä did the job during SS13 by taking 2” from the Welshman who scared himself by hitting a lamppost on the finish line. Luckily, he had stopped his timer just before heading off into the open sea in his Yaris.

It's another stage win for @KalleRovanpera in the day's final test into Umeå! 🥇

Kalle leads #RallySweden by 8.3s with one day to go! It's @ElfynEvans in 2nd with @EsapekkaLappi in 4th 👏#ToyotaGAZOORacing #GRYaris # Rally1 #WRC #RallySweden pic.twitter.com/f2oCOayYyc

- TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT (@TGR_WRC) February 26, 2022

With two new best times, the 3rd and 4th of her weekend in Sweden, Kalle Rovanperä returned to the service park with an 8” lead over Elfyn Evans. The Finn will still have to remain attentive this Sunday in order to avoid the traps of the snow to glean a third career success after those in Estonia and Greece last year.

Neuville clings to the podium

Leader on Friday evening, Thierry Neuville had not yet finished the first loop of Saturday in the best conditions. Victim of a problem with his hybrid system like his teammate Ott Tänak the day before, the pilot Hyundai avait lâché plus de 10 secondes et était retombé 4e derrière Esapekka Lappi.

Fortunately for him, the afternoon smiled on him more. Without encountering any real problems apart from going over the snow wall in SS12, Thierry Neuville systematically finished in the Top 3 of the 3 specials and systematically ahead of Esapekka Lappi. An operation which allowed him to return to the provisional podium of the Rally Sweden before the final day.

SS15 🇸🇪 #Neuville
⏱ 6:15.6 (+3.2)
▶ Third quickest through so far
„Nobody expected us to fight for podium positions here, so that's positive. We'll try to bring that home tomorrow.“#HMSGOfficial #RallySweden pic.twitter.com/MbFI7KHJRz

— Hyundai Motorsport (@HMSGOfficial) February 26, 2022

On the national side, Adrien fourmaux was forced to stop for a few moments during the last special of the day due to a mechanical problem. Unlike his teammate Craig Breen quelques instants avant lui, le Français de M-Sport a pu repartir et ainsi terminer le samedi. Il a tout de même chuté au classement général où il est désormais 15e à plus de 7 minutes d’Elfyn Evans.

General classification of the Rally Sweden after the 2nd day.

The complete ranking

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