Sweden: Neuville resists Breen's attack

The advance of Thierry Neuville remains very thin Rally from Sweden, but the Belgian can be satisfied to have been able to maintain control of the race by returning to mid-stage service.

Craig Breen (Citroën) delivered a series of top-notch performances in the three stages on the morning's program and now finds itself in a challenger position against the leader, less than six seconds behind the first i20. WRC après avoir dépassé les pilotes Hyundai Andreas Mikkelsen et Hayden Paddon. Seul Thierry Neuville lui résiste après que le vice-champion du monde s’est offert le scratch sur le dernier parcours du premier passage, l’ES11 de Vargasen.

The fight for third place remains tight between Andreas Mikkelsen and his New Zealand teammate grouped within two seconds, but the Norwegian is now a dozen seconds behind the Irishman in second place.

Mads Ostberg (Citroën) also remains in the fight for the podium, falling just over two seconds behind the third Hyundai.

The pilots Toyota Esapekka Lappi et Jari-Matti Latvala ont profité des contre-performances de Teemu Suninen (M-Sport) pour gagner chacun une position. Le Finlandais au volant de la Ford a perdu trois places et se retrouve neuvième derrière Ott Tänak (Toyota), in very good shape this morning with a scratch score on the first two courses, which came within eight seconds of Latvala.

Kris Meeke (Citroën) remains isolated in tenth place, preceding the Fords of Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans, the Welshman having slipped behind the Championship leader, still handicapped by his unfavorable position on the road, although less penalizing than the day before with the change in conditions.

Takamoto Katsuta (Ford) retains control of WRC 2 in a category where the fight for victory also remains very close since Pontus Tidemand (Skoda) occupies second place, eight seconds behind the Japanese, with a little more than a second on Ole Veiby's Fabia R5. It is now Hiroki Arai (Ford) who occupies fourth place after Jari Huttunen (Hyundai) lost almost five minutes when he found himself stuck in a wall of snow on the last course of the morning. Reigning World RX champion Johan Kristoffersson now sits ninth among the R5s, up from seventh last night.

The fight is just as hotly contested in WRC 3 and JWRC since local drivers Denis Radström and Emil Bergkvist are separated by only eleven seconds.

The second passage of the second stage of the Rally Sweden will start from 12:44 p.m. and will be followed live with our live text.