Rally Sweden – Victory for Calle Carlberg on home soil in the JWRC

Le Rally Sweden was also the venue for the opening round of the 2026 JWRC. With cars competing in the RC3 class, Ford Fiesta Rally3s prepared by M-Sport To be precise, in Poland, the championship offers a tempting incentive to the winner. In Sweden, the two most recent winners were competing in the WRC2 round: Romet Jürgenson and Mille Johansson, winners of the Junior World Rally Championship in 2024 and 2025 respectively. With M-Sport as the main partner, the British team offers a four-rally program in a Ford Fiesta Rally2 to its winner, which Johansson is benefiting from this year. However, despite this attractive offer, the field for this first round was rather thin: it must be said that this championship is losing momentum and, like its flagship driver, is in dire need of a major restructuring. Nevertheless, the presence of a strong favorite was noted: the Swede Calle Carlberg, who has competed in the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup, which he won in 2023, as well as the Junior World Rally Championship. ERC, for which a seat is promised to whoever wins the aforementioned electric competition, which he won last year. Entered in a field of seven competitors, it was hard to see who could prevent him from shining.

At the top or almost at the top of the RC3

However, Carlberg had to wait until the first run through the Bäck stage on Friday morning to take the lead in the category. Finishing Friday with a 43,7-second advantage over Finland's Leevi Lassila, he extended his lead to almost 1 minute 20 seconds on Saturday evening, concluding the rally nearly two minutes ahead of his closest rival. Behind the two Finns, the podium was completed by Spain's Raúl Hernández, winner of the 2022 Canarias Cup. Given the limited competition, a more interesting comparison is made with the other competitors who competed in the RC3 class, including those in WRC3. With this performance, Calle Carlberg finished second in the class behind Italy's Matteo Fontana, known for his two fastest stage times at Monte Carlo, ahead of all the Rally1 and Rally2 cars, and also, incidentally, for the WRC3 title he is defending this year. Finishing less than 30 seconds behind Fontana, Carlberg didn't just leave Umeå as the JWRC championship leader. Four more rounds remain in the championship: Croatia, Portugal, Finland, and Chile.

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