Round 2 of the WRC 2023 Season, with Monte Carlo’s winner Sebastian Ogier racing only part time this year we were guaranteed a new championship leader at the end of play but who will come out on top and who will be our 2nd different winner of the season?
Day 1
It all kicked off with the opening stage on Thursday night and it was defending champion Kalle Rovanpera kicked off Rally Sweden in style by taking the opening stage. Despite some sections being incredibly slippery and traction at a premium, Rovanpera was the driver to beat as he completed the test 1.6s faster than his nearest rival M-Sport’s Ott Tanak.
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans was third fastest followed close behind the two Hyundais of Esapekka Lappi & an unwell Thierry Neuville.
Day 2
Irishman Craig Breen moved to the top of the leaderboard after a frantic Friday at Rally Sweden, but a fast-finishing Ott Tänak is hot on his heels. The Irishman trailed the man who replaced him at M-Sport Ford for the first half of the day before unleashing an early afternoon attack on the Estonian.
Breen, who is contesting a part-programme aboard a Hyundai i20 N this season, was unperturbed by Tänak’s late charge. Esapekka Lappi made it two Hyundai cars inside the top three with a solid drive on his second rally for the team.
Elsewhere Takamoto Katsuta rolled his GR Yaris on the second pass of Brattby. The Japanese hotshot retired shortly afterwards with radiator damage, putting an end to what had been a promising start.
Kalle Rovanperä, leader following Thursday night’s opener, dropped down the order after spending the day on road-opening duties. Grip was hard to come by for the defending champion as he swept a clean line in the loose snow. He trailed colleague Evans by just 4.6sec to complete the top 5 going into Saturday’s stages.
Day 3
It looked to be a two horse race as both Breen and Tanak was trading stage wins as Saturday developed however as the snow-covered roads became more and more rutted in the fading light of the afternoon loop, Tänak began to reel in his Hyundai Motorsport rival.
Tänak excelled in the night-time conditions, with the split times showing he was on course to outpace Breen by around 10sec. In another dramatic twist, however, the Estonian suffered near-identical tyre troubles to his opponent – but still managed to better the Irishman’s time by 2.8sec and snatch the lead.
Esapekka Lappi fell down the order after running wide on a left-hander in SS13, plunging his Hyundai into a snowbank. The Finn’s demise opened the door for Thierry Neuville and Kalle Rovanperä to fight for the final podium spot.
This paved the way for Rovanperä and Neuville battling it out for that final podium sport with the Belgian taking the edge going into Sunday. Evans struggling again in this event found himself a lowly 5th place.
Day 4
Ott Tanak moved a step closer to scoring M-Sport’s first World Rally Championship win in more than a year after extending his Rally Sweden lead on Sunday morning. The 2019 world champion managed to pull a further 3.0s clear of Hyundai rival Craig Breen to lead the Irishman by 11.2s with two stages remaining at the snow rally.
Breen managed to claw back some time on the Estonian with the gap down to 8.5s heading into the power stage. Controversy soon occurred! Craig Breen checked into the final regroup one minute late, incurring a 10-second penalty and thus promoting Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville into second.
With Breen only racing part time this year it seemed like a team decision in order for Neuville to potentially gain championship points on his rivals which could prove to be a massive asset for the rest of the season.
Lappi recovering from his spin in the previous day took the power stage victory & bagged himself 5 championship points. Elfyn Evans tyring to claim some pride at the event claimed 2nd, Tanak & Rovanperä tied on 3rd with Breen rounding off the top 5 in the power stage.
Overall this Gave Tanak race victory for M-Sport. There first one since Monte Carlo 2022. Breen despite the penalty reclaimed 2nd with Neuville in 3rd. The two Toyota’s of Rovanperä and Evans completing the top 5. Loubet on a better outing with M-Sport claiming 6th, Lappi 7th, Oliver Solberg claiming victory in the WRC2 class as well with a decent 8th, Veiby (WRC2) 9th and Pajari (WRC2) rounding off the top 10. Irish Rally Driver William Creighton claimed the JWRC Class as well.
Tanak is the new championship leader on 41pts with Rovenpera on 38pts & Neuville lying in 3rd with 32pts.
