Rally Sweden – SS1: Elfyn Evans first leader, Adrien Fourmaux one second behind

• The first special of Rally Sweden took place, as is customary, around Umeå. The riders took turns covering the 5,16 km of the day in order to define the first leader of the general classification of the event. This is Elfyn Evans (Toyota), author of the scratch in 3'21″6. The climatic conditions were perfect, or almost, for the eleven Rally1 registered, the first to set off.
• It was below -10°C, but under a clear sky that should remain so all weekend, that Elfyn Evans (Toyota) opened the road. The Welshman has the honour of opening the way due to the absence of Sébastien Ogier, winner of the Monte Carlo Rally and leader of the general classification. Evans, the Frenchman's teammate, set a time of 3'21"6, which has never been beaten.
• Adrien fourmaux (Hyundai) had to start second, in line with his fine podium finish in Monte Carlo. The Frenchman completed the five kilometres 1″2 behind Elfyn Evans, but Ott Tänak (Hyundai, +0″5) and Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota, +0″5) came between them.
• However, Thierry Neuville had a bit more trouble. The Belgian was content to finish 3″7s behind Elfyn Evans. To justify his performance, the world champion first cited a radio problem with his co-driver Martin Wydaeghe, with whom he seemed to have difficulty understanding each other. Afterwards, Neuville also admitted to having detected a problem on his Hyundai i20 during the Shakedown on Thursday morning, without yet having been able to fix it. Watch this space.
• Thierry Neuville's performance still places him in 5th place, ahead of Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota), relegated to 5″4 from his teammate Elfyn Evans. The Japanese, in the running to play for the podium last year before going out, cited a lack of grip of the ice after all his rivals had passed.
• Grégoire Munster (M-Sport Ford), who came in just after the Toyota driver, also immediately complained about the lack of grip once the line was crossed with a 10″5 deficit on Elfyn Evans. It seems that the ice deteriorates rapidly over the course of the special, which could, over the course of the weekend, benefit the openers…
• Logically the most successful month of the Rally1 drivers entered, Jourdan Serderidis (M-Sport Ford) finished 28 seconds off the lead for his second visit to Sweden, eleven years after his first Rally.
• In Rally2, the best time went to Oliver Solberg (Toyota), the big favourite for his home event. Note the fourth fastest time of Tuukka Kauppinen (Toyota), only 18 years old and winner of the Arctic Rally a few days ago ahead of… Kalle Rovanperä.

WRC – Rally Sweden 

ES1 – Ranking and general ranking

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