Sweden – Neuville gets closer to victory

The last two routes of the second stage of the Rally from Sweden only offered the crews a few kilometers to make the difference, but Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) was despite everything still able to increase its lead over Craig Breen (Citroën) notably by signing a new scratch in SS16 at Torsby Sprint. While the Irishman was 18”8 behind the Belgian at the end of SS14, his delay is now measured at almost 23 seconds before the last stage.

Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) still threatens the leading Citroën since the Norwegian is back to just over nine seconds behind second place. The Scandinavian was also able to get some air against his teammate Hayden Paddon who lost a handful of seconds on the last course after having contact with a wall of snow.

The New Zealander sees Mads Ostberg (Citroën) come back to within eight seconds of his i20 WRC, but the Norwegian himself remains under pressure from Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) who remains less than ten seconds from the Top 5. The Finn is still ahead of his compatriots Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) and Teemu Suninen (M-Sport). Ott Tänak (Toyota) remains isolated in ninth place despite his new scratch in the Karlstad super special. The Estonian maintains a good lead over the Fords of Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans.

Takamoto Katsuta (Ford) retains the lead of WRC 2 with a dozen seconds ahead of Pontus Tidemand (Skoda). The Swede remains under pressure from Ole Veiby (Skoda). Among the R5s, World RX champion Johan Kristoffersson (Skoda) is in sixth place.

The final stage of Rally Sweden will feature two passes of Likenas (21,19km) before as well as a new pass through Torsby (9,56km) which will end in the Power Stage. The day will start at 7:50 a.m. The last ES will be followed live with our live text.