Sébastien Ogier wins in Sweden at the end of the suspense

Until the end, Andreas Mikkelsen, Sébastien Ogier et Thierry Neuville will have offered a fantastic spectacle on the roads of Rally of Sweden, second round of the World Rally Championship. With only 4″6 apart between the three men before the Power Stage, the suspense remained intact and without the partials indicated to the crews, the strategy was simple for everyone.

And it is Andreas Mikkelsen who will break down by making a mistake in the Power Stage, giving up more than 40 seconds on the scratch achieved by Sébastien Ogier ahead of Thierry Neuville and Mads Ostberg, these three drivers collecting the points awarded. Neuville (Hyundai) finished in second final position, 6″4 behind Ogier while Mikkelsen finally finished third at 39″8.

Ott Tänak places the first Ford Fiesta RS in M-Sport in fourth position, more than 2'25 from the podium. The Estonian is ahead of the Hyundai i20 of New Zealander Hayden Paddon, excellent 5th in an event that he was almost new to. Elfyn Evans (Ford) managed to keep Kris Meeke at bay in the fight for 6th place, following a spin by the Citroën driver in the Power Stage. Martin Prokop (Ford), Yuriy Protasov (Ford) and Mads Ostberg (Citroën) complete the top 10.

En WRC-2, the Finn Jari Ketomaa won the category at the wheel of his Ford Fiesta R5 ahead of Norwegian Eyvind Brynildsen (Ford) and Ukrainian Valeriy Gorban (Mini JCW). IN WRC-3, the Norwegian Ole-Christian Veiby, the only one entered in the category, won. Note that Frenchman Stéphane Lefebvre made a mistake following a puncture this morning and was unable to restart.

Find the full report of the Swedish Rally, produced by our special correspondents, in issue 1999 of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow evening in digital version and from next Wednesday on newsstands.