Who are the greatest winners of the Rally Sweden, this very special event?

After Monte-Carlo at the end of January, the WRC is already tackling the second round of its 2025 season. As has been the tradition for a little over ten years (excluding the Covid-19 period), it is the Rally from Sweden which will welcome all the players in the championship for this second escapade.

A very special event both in sporting and historical terms. It must be said that since its first edition in 1950 and up to the 71 contested, including the last one in 2024, only 8 of them have escaped the Nordic countries. Even more surprising, 62 of them have gone to drivers from Finland or Sweden.

Snowy roads have always been the favourite playground for drivers from these two countries in question, as demonstrated by the Swedish Rally's own track record. So much so that it was not until 2004 and the advent of a new era in the WRC that they fell for the first time on home soil. That is 54 years of invincibility.

This unprecedented success, outside the Nordic region, was the work of young Sébastien Loeb, winner a few weeks earlier of his second Monte-Carlo and on his way to the first of his nine consecutive world titles with Citroën. It will be his only one at the Rally Sweden by the way.

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena during their victory in Sweden in 2004. © FRANCOIS FLAMAND / DPPI

From the Alsatian, Petter Solberg, Sébastien Ogier (three times), Thierry Neuville, Ott Tänak (twice) and Elfyn Evans have added their names to the list of winners. The latter is dominated by Stig Blomqvist (7 times winner including 5 in WRC), Björn Waldegård (5 times winner including 2 in WRC), Marcus Grönholm (5 times winner, always in WRC) and Jari-Matti Latvala (4 times winner, always in WRC).

The biggest winners of the Rally Sweden

Stig Blomqvist: 1971*, 1972*, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1982 and 1984
Björn Waldegård: 1968*, 1969*, 1970*, 1975 and 1978
Marcus Grönholm: 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2007
Jari-Matti Latvala: 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2017

Stig Blomqvist in 1984. © DPPI

*The World Rally Championship WRC was born in 1973

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