From February 13-16, some of rallying’s fastest drivers will be put through their paces on the spectacular ice-packed roads of Sweden’s northerly Västerbotten region, the event’s home since 2022.
Several changes have been made to the Rally Sweden route for 2025, including the 3.44-kilometre Strandpromenaden Shakedown stage in central Umeå, plus the Andersvattnet and Bäck stages on Friday and Kolksele on Saturday.
Following Shakedown on Thursday morning, the competitive action begins that evening with the first pass of the Umeå Sprint stage, which includes a spectacular closing section at the Red Barn Arena spectator complex.
Three repeated stages either side of service in Umeå make up Friday’s itinerary together with a rerun of the Umeå Sprint stage to round out the day. The two loops begin with the 28.27-kilometre Bygdsiljum test.
Leg two consists of twin visits to the Kolksele, Sarsjöliden and Vännäs stages plus a dress rehearsal of the 10.08-kilometre Umeå Power Stage.
Sunday’s closing third leg is identical to 2024 with two runs through the 29.35-kilometre Västervik test followed by the Umeå Power Stage from 12:15 hrs local time.
Hyundai unveils its upgraded Hyundai i20N Rally1 on Rally Sweden, an event it won last season. Latvian Mārtiṇš Sesks begins his six-event bid in a third Puma, while Greek Jourdan Serderidis set to make his first WRC start since Central European Rally last October.
Four Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 cars are entered for the second event running. In the absence of Rallye Monte-Carlo winner Sébastien Ogier, for whom Rally Sweden is not one of his scheduled events in 2025, Briton Elfyn Evans is the highest-seeded Toyota driver followed by Kalle Rovanperä, the two-time FIA WRC champion. Evans and Rovanperä won Rally Sweden in 2020 and 2022 respectively.
Sweden’s Oliver Solberg is the top WRC2 seed in a Printsport-run Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, the car of choice for Estonia’s Georg Linnamäe, Japanese Toyota development drivers Hikaru Kogure and Yuki Yamamoto, plus Finns Roope Korhonen and Tuukka Kauppinen, who became the youngest winner of the recent Arctic Lapland Rally aged 18.
While the spotlight will shine on the battle to win the 72nd Rally Sweden, the event also marks round one of the five-event FIA Junior WRC Championship.
Included on the entry list are FIA Rally Star crews Taylor Gill/Daniel Brkic and Max Smart/Cameron Fair, plus the WRC Young Driver Team pairing of Claire Schönborn/Jara Hain and Lyssia Baudet/Léa Sam-Caw-Freve.
