Tänak first leader after the super special

Le Rally of Sweden 2018 started with a short super special stage in the Karlstad stadium. With a length of only 2,9 km, the course represented little sporting interest and was more like a final dress rehearsal before tackling the icy forest special stages.

Well placed during the shakedown in the morning, Ott Tänak (Toyota) set the best time of the evening. The Estonian is ahead of his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala by three tiny tenths. The returning Mads Ostberg, freelancer for this second round of WRC on behalf of Citroën, is immediately in the match with a third best time. “I was quite nervous, I was careful not to make a stupid mistake.”, admits the Norwegian. The leader of the French brand, Kris Meeke is less than a second away.  

The gaps are very tight; Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport Ford) is in ninth place, partly due to a wider trajectory in a curve, but is only two and a half seconds behind Ott Tänak. The first “real” special will begin Friday morning from 7:55 a.m. and will be followed live on our live text.

The classification of the Super-special:
1. Ott Tänak – Martin Jarveoja (Toyota Yaris) 1’32”7
2. Jari-Matti Latvala – Mikko Antilla (Toyota Yaris) at 0”3
3. Mads Ostberg – Torstein Eriksen (Citroën C3) at 0”6
4. Kris Meeke – Paul Nagle (Citroën C3) at 0”9
5. Andreas Mikkelsen – Andreas Jaeger (Hyundai i30 Coupe) at 0''9
6. Thierry Neuville – Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i30 Coupe) at 1”
7. Hayden Paddon – Scott Marshall (Hyundai i30 Coupe) at 2”1
8. Esapekka Lappi – Ferm (Toyota Yaris) at 2”2
9. Sébastien Ogier – Julien Ingrassia (M-Sport Ford Fiesta) at 2”5
10. Craig Breen – Scott Martin (Citroën C3) at 2”9.