Rally Sweden – Thierry Neuville leads the Shakedown ahead of Adrien Fourmaux

Just a few weeks after the snow of Rally Monte Carlo, the Rally Sweden welcomed its competitors in even more extreme conditions. With outside temperatures hovering around -15°C, the Belgian Thierry Neuville managed to set the fastest time in the shakedown, clocking a time of 1:51.8, at the end of his fifth and final run. Just behind the champion WRC 2024, the Tricolore Adrien fourmaux confirmed the relative dominance of Hyundai by climbing to second position, just three tenths of a second behind his teammate, at the end of the 3,07 km course around Umeå.

In this instance, the Hyundai i20s dominated the proceedings, with Finland's Lappi Esapekka finishing third in the shakedown, setting his personal best time on his fourth run. He finished just ahead of Elfyn Evans, who was first. Toyota of the standings. The Welshman, having completed only three runs, notably edged out Takamoto Katsuta by two-tenths of a second, as well as Oliver Solberg, who finished seventh in this initial ranking. It should be noted that the Swede made a mistake early in the competition, losing valuable time on his very first run.

In WRC2, the fastest driver was none other than Finland's Tuukka Kauppinen, who posted a second run in 1:57.2. It's also worth noting that the available running time for each WRC and WRC2 competitor has been extended. Due to delays accumulated during the stage, some Fords M-Sport had in fact only made two attempts before this decision.

Now, the next step is none other than the first special stage of this Rally Sweden, scheduled for 19:05 pm (French time).

WRC – Rally Sweden
The Shakedown Rankings