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WRC Rally Sweden 2019
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"Now it's much better. It should be the first day now because I remember these stages a little bit, so it's much easier to start the rally now. Unfortunately we were driving yesterday!"
Trademark Marcus Gronholm.
Trademark Marcus Gronholm.
Gronholm passes carefully over Colin's Crest, slamming the brakes and hopping gracefully over the jump. No theatrics from the two-time champion.
Ogier's already 6.1s up on Gronholm at the first split. But of the three returnees it's Latvala that has the best shot at popping up in the top 10 on Sunday, as he lost only seven minutes due to his retirement.
Getting back into the points will be a difficult task given the depth of the WRC2 field this weekend but stranger things have happened.
Getting back into the points will be a difficult task given the depth of the WRC2 field this weekend but stranger things have happened.
Gronholm, Latvala and Ogier are all on their way. Just waiting on some comparative splits, now.
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How does Vargasen compare to our other stages today? 2003 world champion Petter Solberg has given us some insight.
SS11 Vargasen (8.83 miles)
Of course everybody knows this stage for Colin’s Crest, the big jump in the middle – this is a fantastic place with so many people and such an incredible feeling. When you are coming there, you can smell the fires and almost hear the people – it’s so colourful when you are flying through the air! You have to stay focused for the road though, there’s a quite tricky right-hander coming straight after the landing.
SS11 Vargasen (8.83 miles)
Of course everybody knows this stage for Colin’s Crest, the big jump in the middle – this is a fantastic place with so many people and such an incredible feeling. When you are coming there, you can smell the fires and almost hear the people – it’s so colourful when you are flying through the air! You have to stay focused for the road though, there’s a quite tricky right-hander coming straight after the landing.
Rally2 returnees Latvala and Ogier have scored the two stage wins this morning. Marcus Gronholm now sets off onto Vargasen – can he make it three from three for the returning retirees? Probably not, but it would be welcomed by all in the paddock!
David Evans
Ten years ago, the sensible thinking was that Evgeny Novikov was the real deal; he would be the man to deliver Russian’s very first World Rally Championship. No doubt. Then he faded. Then disappeared, taking Russian rally fans hopes with him. Until now.
The 21-year-old Gryazin is showing the same speed and promise that trumpeted his countryman’s arrival in the series back in in 2007.
Sweden will be Gryazin’s WRC debut, but the Skoda Fabia R5 driver’s definitely one worth keeping an eye out for. He won last year’s ERC U28 Junior title, but more important was the speed he showed to win the SM Teijo Talot-ralli round of the Finnish Rally Championship. It got better earlier this year, when he won both the Sigdalsrally and Finnskog in Norway. Were it not for a radiator-filling trip to a snowbank on last week’s Sarma Rally, he might have had a winter hat-trick ahead of his WRC 2 debut.
The Russian is, however, keen to avoid any rash predictions.
He told Autosport: “I’m excited to come to the World Rally Championship for the first time. But I don’t expect so much from this season with this being my first time here. I don’t have any experience for any of these races. This year’s about experience.
“I know the competition will be high on [WRC 2] rounds and it won’t be easy, so I don’t expect good results. I can’t forecast anything now. We have to wait and see.”
The 21-year-old Gryazin is showing the same speed and promise that trumpeted his countryman’s arrival in the series back in in 2007.
Sweden will be Gryazin’s WRC debut, but the Skoda Fabia R5 driver’s definitely one worth keeping an eye out for. He won last year’s ERC U28 Junior title, but more important was the speed he showed to win the SM Teijo Talot-ralli round of the Finnish Rally Championship. It got better earlier this year, when he won both the Sigdalsrally and Finnskog in Norway. Were it not for a radiator-filling trip to a snowbank on last week’s Sarma Rally, he might have had a winter hat-trick ahead of his WRC 2 debut.
The Russian is, however, keen to avoid any rash predictions.
He told Autosport: “I’m excited to come to the World Rally Championship for the first time. But I don’t expect so much from this season with this being my first time here. I don’t have any experience for any of these races. This year’s about experience.
“I know the competition will be high on [WRC 2] rounds and it won’t be easy, so I don’t expect good results. I can’t forecast anything now. We have to wait and see.”
Turning back to WRC2 for a moment, where most of the crews have finally finished Hagfors, there's one driver who is tipped for a bright future, even if he is only 6th in class at the moment. DAVID EVANS takes up the story.
Vargasen is famous for one thing in particular; it's home to Colin's Crest, the long, high jump which Thierry Neuville very nearly flipped his Hyundai over on last year.
Our next stage, Vargasen, starts in only a few minutes' time. A nice compact loop schedule this morning!
Veiby also still leads WRC2 somewhat comfortably, though Kristoffersson has just taken 4.4s out of him here. But despite that effort, Kristofferson has just been demoted to third in WRC2, after a fast time from Jari Huttunen.
The ex-Hyundai development driver somehow managed to win last night's chaotic Torsby stage outright against the WRC crews in a less powerful R5 machine and has just topped the WRC2 times on Hagfors.
The ex-Hyundai development driver somehow managed to win last night's chaotic Torsby stage outright against the WRC crews in a less powerful R5 machine and has just topped the WRC2 times on Hagfors.
Yesterday afternoon works Skoda junior driver Kalle Rovanpera was taking time hand over first out of Mads Ostberg. But his rate of return is slowing, taking only 3.9s out of the Citroen driver here. So he's still 1m19.3s off the lead in the WRC2 Pro category.
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It's all change in the overall after Suninen's trip into that snowbank late on in Hagfors. Tanak is threatening to run away with the win and we're only two stages into Saturday.
Overall classification after SS10 Hagfors
1. Tanak 1h35m10.6s
2. Mikkelsen +34.2s
3. Evans +49.0s
4. Lappi +54.6s
5. Neuville +58.9s
6. Meeke +1m00.6s
7. Loeb +1m16.2s
8. Suninen +1m28.9s
9. Tidemand +2m15.6s
Overall classification after SS10 Hagfors
1. Tanak 1h35m10.6s
2. Mikkelsen +34.2s
3. Evans +49.0s
4. Lappi +54.6s
5. Neuville +58.9s
6. Meeke +1m00.6s
7. Loeb +1m16.2s
8. Suninen +1m28.9s
9. Tidemand +2m15.6s
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Firstly, a recap of the times from that Hagfors stage.
SS10 Hagfors stage results
1. Ogier 12m33.1s
2. Tanak +1.9s
3. Neuville +5.4s
4. Meeke +7.3s
5. Latvala +8.4s
6. Lappi +9.2s
7. Mikkelsen +14.2s
8. Evans +17.7s
9. Loeb +19.7s
10. Gronholm +22.5s
SS10 Hagfors stage results
1. Ogier 12m33.1s
2. Tanak +1.9s
3. Neuville +5.4s
4. Meeke +7.3s
5. Latvala +8.4s
6. Lappi +9.2s
7. Mikkelsen +14.2s
8. Evans +17.7s
9. Loeb +19.7s
10. Gronholm +22.5s
That plummets Suninen down to eighth. Fully updated overall standings in a moment!
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"Snowbank sucked us to the bank, got stuck and lost time. Too much speed and quite a lot of loose snow," says Suninen.
Suninen loses 1m27.1s relative to second-quickest Tanak. Disaster.
Any hope of a first WRC win has evaporated there.
Suninen looks quite badly stuck. No amount of pushing works at first. But, eventually, they get him out and Suninen is on his way.
There are fans trying to push him out.
In the twisty technical section that finishes the Hagfors stage, Suninen just drifts a bit wide on a slow left and goes nose-first into the snowbank.
Crash
Suninen is off into a snowbank!
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"It was a technical stage and again we had a very clean run, so really nothing special. But when you are starting so far behind the grip is changing in some places," says Tanak.
"But everything is working well, I'm in a good rhythm right now."
"But everything is working well, I'm in a good rhythm right now."
Tanak goes second fastest – with Ogier still top – with a 12m35.0s. Looks good to extend his lead as it stands.
Third placed Mikkelsen's gap over Evans behind is now up to 14.8s with that run.
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Mikkelsen arrives at stage end.
"That was an OK stage, clean. I made a mistake here last year so I was trying to keep it in the lines. I could have gone faster I think but that comes with risk."
"That was an OK stage, clean. I made a mistake here last year so I was trying to keep it in the lines. I could have gone faster I think but that comes with risk."
Evans drops 8.5s relative to Lappi. They're now quite close together in the overall, separated by only 5.6s.
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"The car is really handling how I want but I am just not brave enough anymore," says Lappi.
"I'm too cautious. I'm losing a lot on the really high speed places. I'm guessing its coming from yesterday, from the mistake."
"I'm too cautious. I'm losing a lot on the really high speed places. I'm guessing its coming from yesterday, from the mistake."
Lappi is beating both Mikkelsen and Evans in the split here. Not by much, admittedly, with only 1.4s over Mikkelsen at the third split. But he's 4.5s up on Evans, so fourth might be achievable. If he can keep Neuville behind.
Loeb drops 12.4s to Meeke and 14.3s to Neuville. He's making eighth place his own, and not in a good way.
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"It was OK. I don't know if I remember from last year those stages, I was much more on the edge, and now I struggle to keep the car on the road. But maybe the conditions are different," says Neuville. He's back in the ascendancy but still not particularly happy.
Neuville takes 1.9s out of Meeke. That's sixth place back in his hands. And Loeb is falling further back.
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"I feel like [I'm in] a bit more of an attack mode," says Meeke.
"I feel a bit more confident. If it melts a bit in the afternoon we're going to be in trouble with our road position."
That interview means there's a media crew in place at the end of Hagfors now. Hurrah!
"I feel a bit more confident. If it melts a bit in the afternoon we're going to be in trouble with our road position."
That interview means there's a media crew in place at the end of Hagfors now. Hurrah!
Meeke is 7.3 slower than Ogier and second fastest for now. But Neuville is set to take his sixth position away based on the splits right now.
Tidemand's pace remains very steady. He's 32.1s slower than Ogier and slots in-between Gronholm and Tuohino in regards to stage time. But he's still in a very safe ninth overall.
Gronholm and Janne Tuohino are both making their debuts in this new generation of world rally car and both have been out of the game for several years. But quality shines through; Gronholm's 13.9s faster than his compatriot, the latter of whom is driving a Ford Fiesta he purchased recently from M-Sport.
Loeb is over three seconds down on both Meeke and Neuville at the first split. If his pace notes are too conservative for this entire day's worth of stages, as was the case in Rammen earlier, he might find himself cast away in eighth place for the rest of today.
Neuville is 0.2s up on Meeke at the first split. That puts them at a dead heat in their battle for sixth place as it stands!
Latvala shows up at stage end, going 8.4s slower than Ogier. A stage win for Ogier might boost his mood a bit, at least.
Tidemand and Meeke are both on their way and neither can match Ogier's opening split.
Tidemand and Meeke are both on their way and neither can match Ogier's opening split.
Ogier has arrived safely too, and was six seconds up on Latvala at the penultimate split. They're not fighting each other for position but there's always pride on the line.
By: Matt Beer
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