Rally Sweden 2019
08h
Esapekka Lappi (Citroën) and Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) were among those closest to Jari-Matti Latvala's (Toyota) scratch in SS17 of the Swedish Rally. The Finn completed the 21,19km Likenäs special in 11’06”3, 2 tenths ahead of Sébastien Ogier (Citroën). Lappi and Neuville followed more than 8 seconds behind but took back around 7 seconds from Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai).
Ott Tänak (Toyota), Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) and Kris Meeke (Toyota) followed at around ten seconds. Sébastien Loeb (Hyundai) finished around fifteen seconds tied with Mikkelsen.
Ott Tänak maintains a lead of more than 53 seconds over Esapekka Lappi who consolidates his second place with 2”5 ahead of Thierry Neuville who completes the new provisional podium. Andreas Mikkelsen fell to 4th place, 4”3 behind his teammate. Elfyn Evans came back to within 9 seconds of the Norwegian. Kris Meeke (Toyota) remains 6th, now more than 6 seconds ahead of Sébastien Loeb.
Pontus Tidemand (M-Sport) remains eighth ahead of Ole Christian Veiby (Volkswagen), still leading WRC 2 with 16 seconds over Jari Huttunen (Skoda). Mads Ostberg (Citroën) remains in the lead of WRC 2 Pro.
08h
Tänak remains on a high pace with around ten seconds behind his teammate Latvala. The Estonian maintains a lead of more than 53 seconds over Lappi.
08h
Mikkelsen lost almost 7s on Lappi and Neuville. The Norwegian slips to 4th place, 4″3 behind his teammate Neuville and more than 6s behind Lappi. “I didn't want to use the snow walls too much to stay clean, but I probably didn't push hard enough. »
08h
Lappi is ahead of Neuville by 2 tenths, who is now 2″5 overall. “I had a few small mistakes but I stayed clean. It's good to follow your own pace. » Mikkelsen seems slower than the Citroën driver.
08h
Neuville takes 1″2 from Evans by ranking almost 9s from the provisional scratch. " I can not do any more. I did a good SS for myself. » The Belgian fears Lappi who seems faster than him.
08h
Evans ranks 10s behind Latvala. Enough to take some time back in Neuville? “It went well, I attacked quite hard. »
08h
Meeke is ahead of Loeb by 5s and pushes the Hyundai driver back to 6″6 from his 5th place. “We have to think about points for the team. »
08h
Loeb failed more than 15 seconds from the benchmark, half a second behind Suninen. Meeke seems faster. “I’m trying to find the right compromise in terms of attack. It will be hard to take Meeke back. »
08h
Suninen sets the 3rd time 15s from the provisional reference. M-Sport had announced its retirement following a damaged rollbar, but the team worked all night to restore the Ford to its original state. “I have to have a good rhythm to thank them for their efforts. »
08h
Tidemand ranks 19s behind Latvala. The Swede from M-Sport remains 8th. “I lost more time than expected, but the stage is beautiful. »
08h
Tuohino leads Bertelli by 7s in the special. The Finn is in 13th place.
08h
Bertelli fails 41s behind Latvala. The M-Sport private driver moves towards 22nd place. " Everything works well. »
08h
Latvala is ahead of Ogier by 2 tenths. The Toyota driver moved up to 25th position. “The conditions are perfect. I had very good feelings behind the wheel. »
08h
Ogier improves Grönholm's time by almost 22 seconds. “The conditions are magnificent. We would like it to always be like this. We will save the tires next time for the Power Stage. »
08h
Grönholm completed the special in 11’28”3. “The stage was really beautiful, but I didn’t feel confident. »
07h
Ogier and Latvala are ahead of Grönholm by more than 5s at the first intermediate. The Toyota driver is even ahead of the Frenchman by more than a second in the same place.
07h
The road is well covered in snow for this first passage, the conditions should please the drivers.
07h
Grönholm sets off on the first passage of Likenäs, 21,19km long.
07h
Grönholm will open the road again in this stage. The GRX boss-driver will start in front of Ogier, Latvala, Bertelli, Tuohino, Tidemand, Suninen, Loeb, Meeke, Evans, Neuville, Lappi, Mikkelsen and Tänak.
07h
Welcome to the live text of the last stage of the Rally Sweden!
Ott Tänak (Toyota) is well on his way to adding this round to his list of achievements, the Estonian having almost a minute ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) and Esapekka Lappi (Citroën) who find themselves tied. Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) and Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) are also fighting for second place. Sébastien Loeb (Hyundai) will fight to place in the Top 5 by taking over Kris Meeke (Toyota).
The crews will compete in the 21,9km Likenas special twice, with the first run scheduled for 7:50 a.m. The 8,93km Torsby Power Stage will be contested from 12:18 p.m.
