Sweden: Neuville keeps the lead, Hyundai celebrates

Thierry Neuville keeps control of the Rally from Sweden on the evening of the first stage. The Belgian ends the day with a lead of 4” over Andreas Mikkelsen while the gap between the two drivers was less than four seconds at midday. The reigning vice-champion did not record any more scratches this afternoon but managed to achieve top-notch performances on all courses.

La lutte pour les places sur le podium provisoire bat son plein, notamment après une erreur d’Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) dans l’ES6 de Svullrya qui lui a coûté une demi-minute et qui l’a fait reculer de la troisième à la septième place. C’est Hayden Paddon qui complète désormais le trio de tête avoir signé le scratch sur le dernier parcours du jour, l’ES8 de Torsby qui servira de Power Stage dans la dernière étape. Le Néo-Zélandais permet à Hyundai de monopoliser le podium provisoire.

Citroën remains well placed with two C3s WRC in the top five. Craig Breen and Mads Ostberg gave way to Hayden Paddon on the last course, but the Irishman and the Norwegian are less than a second behind the third i20 WRC. Kris Meeke, on the other hand, is transparent by occupying a distant tenth place, but the Northern Irishman may have been slowed down by his position on the road.

The third Citroën driver is far from the only one to have suffered from the phenomenon of sweeping, very important in this stage due to the fresh snow present on the roads.

Teemu Suninen est ainsi le premier pilote M-Sport en occupant la sixième position devant ses compatriotes Esapekka Lappi et Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota). Ott Tänak (Toyota) is only ninth in the general classification, but the most frustrated is certainly the Championship leader Sébastien Ogier who is in 12th position behind his teammate Elfyn Evans, almost three minutes from the lead of the race. If the positions will change tomorrow with the day's ranking, the delay of the five-time world champion seems too great for him to hope for a good result on a regular basis.

“A difficult day. I tried, but I can't be any faster. When we lose more than 1.5s/km in the 2nd loop, that means something is wrong because I don't think that's my normal pace. I am very far away, there is no real objective”

- Sébastien Ogier (@SebOgier) 16th February 2018

Takamoto Katsuta (Ford) remains in the lead of WRC 2 by resisting pressure from Pontus Tidemand (Skoda) who remains four seconds behind the Japanese. Ole Veiby (Skoda) follows at seven seconds with five seconds ahead of Jari Huttunen (Hyundai). Among the R5s, Johan Kristoffersson (Skoda), reigning World RX champion, climbed to seventh place after notably setting the best time in the category in the penultimate special of the day (SS7 at Röjden).

The second stage of the Swedish Rally will begin this Saturday from 8:25 a.m. with the 20km of Torntorp.