16h
The crews will finish the day with the 9,56km to Torsby from 16:56 p.m. This SS will serve as a Power Stage during the final stage.
16h
Katsuta (Ford) remains in the lead of WRC 2 but the Japanese sees his lead over Tidemand (Skoda) reduced to less than 6s. Veiby (Skoda) follows the local driver by half a second. Huttunen (Hyundai) remains in the match 7s behind the Norwegian.
16h
Craig Breen (Citroën) took the scratch in SS7 of the Swedish Rally, the 19,13km of Röjden, with a time of 10'06"1. The Irishman took more than two seconds from Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) who was nevertheless closest to the benchmark. Mads Ostberg (Citroën), Esapekka Lappi (Toyota), Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) and Teemu Suninen (M-Sport) finished around six seconds just ahead of Hayden Paddon (Hyundai).
Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) leads the second part of the peloton almost 16 seconds behind the scratch. Ott Tänak (Toyota) and Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) follow at around twenty seconds. Kris Meeke (Citroën) drops more than 24 seconds.
The day was a real crux for Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) who lost around 50 seconds by opening the road without encountering any particular problems.
Thierry Neuville regains some air by now having a 4”8 lead over Andreas Mikkelsen with one stage remaining at the end of the first stage. Craig Breen climbed into third position, six tenths behind the Novégian and ahead of Mads Ostberg by five seconds. Hayden Paddon still completes the top five, less than five seconds behind the second Citroën. Teemu Suninen remains first among the Finns, ahead of his compatriots Esapekka Lappi and Jari-Matti Latvala. Ott Tänak remains ninth ahead of Kris Meeke. Sébastien Ogier remains 11th but is now more than a minute behind the Top ten! The Championship leader now only has a one second lead over Elfyn Evans.
O/A after SS71. Neuville2. Mikkelsen +4.83. Breen +5.44. Ostberg +10.45. Paddon +156. Suninen +25.57. Lappi +37.98. Latvala +59.99. Tanak +1m14.610. Meeke +1m27.311. Ogier +2m28.3#WRC #RallySweden pic.twitter.com/krf7o8uTXk
— Michelin Motorsport (@Michelin_Sport) 16th February 2018
16h
Ostberg sets the 3rd time, 5″6 behind his teammate Breen. The Norwegian gives up 3rd place to the Irishman by 5s. “I have to make changes to the car. I'm still missing a bit of driving on this car. I had a big scare in the special. »
16h
Paddon finished with the 6th time, 6”4 behind the provisional scratch. The Hyundai driver finds himself around ten seconds behind the Irishman in the general classification. “I benefit from a good position on the road. »
16h
Suninen finished in 5th time, 6″1 behind Breen. The M-Sport driver is 20s behind the Irishman in the general classification.
16h
Breen gains another 2″2 in Neuville with the provisional scratch and is also ahead of Mikkelsen by 6s. The Citroën driver is only 6 tenths behind the Norwegian with his teammate Ostberg also in the game.
16h
Mikkelsen sets the 3rd time, 3″8 behind his teammate Mikkelsen. The Norwegian finds himself 4″8 from the head of the race. “It was a clean stage where I was perhaps a little too careful at times. There is one stage left and we will then see what we can do tomorrow. »
16h
Lappi is the closest to Neuville with 3″5 behind. The Toyota driver regained his rhythm following the incident in the previous SS. His teammate Latvala finds himself 22s from his 7th place.
16h
Evans sets the 4th fastest time, one tenth behind Tänak. The Welshman is one second behind his teammate Ogier who occupies 11th place. “It's so slippery outside the trajectories that we absolutely have to follow them without deviating. »
16h
Neuville sets the new benchmark with a 13″7 lead over Latvala. The leader does not intend to give up his place so easily to his teammate Mikkelsen. “I fight with those who follow me. I try to do my best with the conditions we have. I try to be smart by not making too many trajectories for others. »
16h
Meeke sets the 3rd time, 9s behind Latvala. The Citroën driver finds himself more than 12s behind Tänak in the general classification. “I can't really take the positions on the road as an excuse because Jari is just in front of me and he is better placed while Thierry is just behind and he is leading the rally. »
16h
Latvala improves Tänak’s performance by 3″7. The Estonian is almost 15 seconds behind the Finn who occupies 8th place. “I thought it was a good stage. My feelings were better here. We'll see what we can do tomorrow. »
16h
Tänak is more than 31 seconds behind Ogier in the special. The Frenchman is 1'13 behind the Toyota driver in the general classification.
16h
The interviews seem more and more painful for Ogier. " Nothing happened. Everything is fine. There is nothing to add. »
16h
Ogier sets a first time of 10'57″0, almost 40 seconds behind Mikkelsen's scratch set in the morning.
15h
Ogier does not seem to suffer from any particular problems with his Ford. The Frenchman suffers from his position as fly-half, but the phenomenon seems even worse on this course.
15h
Ogier lost a lot of time in the first sectors. The M-Sport driver is around 24 seconds behind Tänak in the first km.
15h
Here is the point in the standings after SS6:
O/A after SS61. Neuville 2. Mikkelsen +13. Ostberg +74. Breen +7.65. Paddon +10.86. Suninen +21.67. Lappi +34.38. Latvala +42.69. Tanak +57.210. Meeke +1m04.611. Ogier 1m39.6 #WRC #RallySweden pic.twitter.com/fJwaS4Hjlx
— Michelin Motorsport (@Michelin_Sport) 16th February 2018
15h
Ogier has already launched into the second passage of Röjden, 19,13km long. Mikkelsen took the scratch this morning in 10'18″5.
