Rally Sweden 2019
08h
Ott Tänak (Toyota) was the fastest in the leading group in the first special stage of the second stage of Rally Sweden. On the new 23,13km Rämmen course, the Estonian finished 5 seconds behind his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala who returned to Rally 2, author of the scratch in 11'23''1.
Tänak took more than 4 seconds from Teemu Suninen (M-Sport) who finished behind Sébastien Ogier (Citroën) who restarted in Rally 2. The Finn finished just ahead of Kris Meeke (Toyota) and the Hyundais of Thierry Neuville and Andreas Mikkelsen. Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) and Esapekka Lappi (Citroën) are a dozen seconds behind. Sébastien Loeb (Hyundai) is around 17 seconds behind. Marcus Grönholm (Toyota), road opener today, followed at 25 seconds, ahead of Pontus Tidemand (M-Sport) by a few seconds.
Ott Tänak retakes the lead of Rally Sweden with a 1”8 lead over Teemu Suninen. Andreas Mikkelsen follows around twenty seconds behind, still having an 11 second lead over Elfyn Evans. Esapekka Lappi still completes the Top 5 with an 8 second lead over Kris Meeke who gained two positions against Thierry Neuville and Sébastien Loeb who finds himself 8th ahead of Pontus Tidemand.
08h
Suninen failed almost 4s behind Tänak who found himself leading the rally by 1″8. “I was a little too careful at one point. I'm confident driving, but I don't want to make any mistakes. »
08h
Tänak seems the fastest among the leading group since he is closest to his teammate Latvala with 5 seconds behind. The Estonian could take the lead of the rally. “I rode well. It will be a long day. The special was new, we didn't want to take any risks. »
08h
Mikkelsen ranks 11s behind Latvala by setting the 5th time. The Hyundai driver is in 3rd position. “It was a clean start. We attack as much as we can and we will see what we can do. »
08h
Evans sets the 5th fastest time, a dozen seconds from the benchmark. The M-Sport driver ranks 4th. “The podium is the goal. »
08h
Lappi sets the 5th fastest time, a dozen seconds behind Latvala. The Citroën driver in 5th position only has an 8s lead over Meeke. “I don’t know what we can do today. I didn't take any risks. I was a little too slow at the start. The snow walls are not huge, you can't lean on them. »
08h
Loeb fails more than 16s behind Latvala. The Hyundai driver lost 2 places against Meeke and Neuville.
08h
Neuville failed 6 tenths behind Meeke and gave up his 7th place to the Toyota driver by 2 tenths. “I had a lot of understeer. I was having trouble being fast. It was a very fast SS, the next one will be a little different. »
08h
Meeke sets the 3rd provisional time, more than 9s behind Latvala. The Toyota driver is fighting with Neuville for 8th place.
08h
Tidemand sets the 4th fastest time, more than 28 seconds behind Latvala. The M-Sport driver is the lowest ranked in the first WRC group, occupying 9th place.
08h
Tuohino ranks about 40s from Latvala. “It’s a nice SS but it’s slippery. » The Finn is moving towards 18th place in the middle of WRC 2.
08h
Bertelli is the slowest with 45s behind Latvala, but the private Ford driver was able to finish the 1st stage occupying 26th place. “There was a lot of grip, that surprised me. »
07h
Latvala is ahead of Ogier by almost 6s. The Toyota driver remains hopeful of fighting for the Top 10. “It’s a superb SS. »
07h
Ogier improves Grönholm's time by more than 19 seconds. The Citroën driver, however, must not have been too aggressive since he also returned to Rally 2. "It's about driving and accumulating the km on this car. It's hard to stay motivated. »
07h
Grönholm sets a first time in 11'48"5. The double WRC champion finally managed to complete a special stage without incident. “This is my first clean stage. »
07h
Ogier closed to 3″5 behind Latvala in the 3rd sector.
07h
Latvala increased the pace by beating Ogier by almost 5 seconds in the 2nd intermediate.
07h
Ogier and Latvala evolve at a similar pace. The Frenchman is ahead of Grönholm by more than 7s in the 2nd split.
07h
Grönholm starts the 2nd stage by restarting in Rally 2 after going off the road yesterday.
07h
The road is quite icy on this first route of the day, but the walls of snow are quite small. The opening car indicated that the conditions were the best encountered so far.
