WRC Rally Sweden 2019
Live Text
Sort by
Gronholm completes the stage with no spins! He didn't manage that yesterday. Now, the post-stage interview...
Latvala's slightly faster than Ogier, 0.2s up at the first split. Gronholm and gentleman driver Lorenzo Bertelli are, unsurprisingly, lagging a bit behind already.
That's Latvala on the move. All three of our first runners ended Friday in the same way; stuck in snowbanks. How many victims might the soft, cold, merciless banks claim today?
Ogier's on his way now too. Don't expect miracles; he's focused on tomorrow's points-paying power stage for the most part.
Green flag
Marcus Gronholm kicks us off for the morning with his privateer Toyota Yaris.
Information
Petter Solberg, the 2003 world champion, is leading Rally Sweden Historic overnight. Who better to give us a preview of what to expect from this stage?
SS9 Rammen (14.37 miles)
This one is a bit of a Rally Sweden history lesson. We didn’t come here for a couple of years – and we didn’t come here for a lot of years in this direction – but this stage has been used for a long time on this event. It’s a road which changes a lot in terms of rhythm: there are some really, really fast sections and then there are a lot of junctions and hairpins which slow the thing down quite a lot. One of the keys in here is being able to change the rhythm and keep the pace and tempo up.
SS9 Rammen (14.37 miles)
This one is a bit of a Rally Sweden history lesson. We didn’t come here for a couple of years – and we didn’t come here for a lot of years in this direction – but this stage has been used for a long time on this event. It’s a road which changes a lot in terms of rhythm: there are some really, really fast sections and then there are a lot of junctions and hairpins which slow the thing down quite a lot. One of the keys in here is being able to change the rhythm and keep the pace and tempo up.
David Evans
Temperatures in the service park hovered around zero as the cars left, but overnight it has dropped as low as minus 3. The feeling is that the first loop - certainly for the World Rally Cars - should offer a decent ice base. The question remains, however: what will happen this afternoon when temperatures could rise as high as six degrees?
The Torsby Sprint stage which concludes the day’s action is reckoned near certain to be cancelled for everybody (it was culled for the Historics yesterday).
In terms of tyres, Teemu Suninen has gambled on five for the morning. His nearest rival Ott Tanak has taken two spares, which means more weight but also the potential for much better grip when he bolts new fronts on for the day’s second test: Hagfors. Minus temperatures overnight are something of a double-edged sword - they help give the event a wintry feel, but at the same time they will freeze the gravel beneath the surface hard and that frozen gravel can snap studs or pull them clean out of the tyres under braking and acceleration.
The Torsby Sprint stage which concludes the day’s action is reckoned near certain to be cancelled for everybody (it was culled for the Historics yesterday).
In terms of tyres, Teemu Suninen has gambled on five for the morning. His nearest rival Ott Tanak has taken two spares, which means more weight but also the potential for much better grip when he bolts new fronts on for the day’s second test: Hagfors. Minus temperatures overnight are something of a double-edged sword - they help give the event a wintry feel, but at the same time they will freeze the gravel beneath the surface hard and that frozen gravel can snap studs or pull them clean out of the tyres under braking and acceleration.
Conditions were talk of the town yesterday as, come the afternoon loop, roads went from being pristine ice white to murky brown gravel, with Kris Meeke suggesting the event had turned into Rally GB. It could happen again today, as DAVID EVANS explains.
David Evans
It’s only the second round of his reign as Hyundai team principal, but Andrea Adamo is already ingratiating himself to the WRC’s hack pack. The likeable Italian appears to be a modern day equivalent of his equally charismatic countryman Corrado Provera. Adamo states: “Our ambition will dictate our performance,” with the same energy and appeal that Peugeot man Provera reserved for his immortal line: “We have a lion on our bonnet and a lion in our heart.”
While we’re on the subject of Provera, it was on this rally 14 years ago that he retired from the position of Peugeot Sport director (a position taken over by and feversome fellow Jean-Pierre Nicolas). It was standing room only at his final pre-event press conference – an event known widely as the ‘Corrado Show’ – at the Scandic Winn hotel in Karlstad and a mark of the affection he was held in that drivers who had since departed his team attended. Then Mitsubishi driver Harri Rovanpera was one such.
“You never knew,” said Harri, “what he was going to say. It was always good for the entertainment. He was fantastic guy as team principal.”
While we’re on the subject of Provera, it was on this rally 14 years ago that he retired from the position of Peugeot Sport director (a position taken over by and feversome fellow Jean-Pierre Nicolas). It was standing room only at his final pre-event press conference – an event known widely as the ‘Corrado Show’ – at the Scandic Winn hotel in Karlstad and a mark of the affection he was held in that drivers who had since departed his team attended. Then Mitsubishi driver Harri Rovanpera was one such.
“You never knew,” said Harri, “what he was going to say. It was always good for the entertainment. He was fantastic guy as team principal.”
Speaking of people winning world championships with Peugeot, there's a newly promoted figure in the paddock that reminds DAVID EVANS somewhat of the mastermind behind the team's dominant spell in the early 2000s...
Gronholm being back is good news for everyone, really; having only finished two stages yesterday we only got a small taste of his trademark stage-end interviews. Hopefully we'll have a whole set of eight soundbites today.
Our road order today is interesting; Marcus Gronholm, Sebastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala are up first, thanks to the new-for-2019 rules which put restarting cars first instead of last. Suninen, our leader, will be the 14th car out.
If Ogier was fed up of running first yesterday, he'll get no reprieve today...
If Ogier was fed up of running first yesterday, he'll get no reprieve today...
The surprise overnight rally leader is M-Sport's Teemu Suninen, who is leading a WRC event for the first time in his career.
You might expect his team principal would tell him to be careful and not risk such a good result. Instead, Rich Millener has told Suninen to throw caution to the wind this morning. This should be interesting.
More on that story below.
You might expect his team principal would tell him to be careful and not risk such a good result. Instead, Rich Millener has told Suninen to throw caution to the wind this morning. This should be interesting.
More on that story below.
Good morning rally fans! Day two of Rally Sweden kicks off this morning with Rämmen in a little over 10 minutes.
Autosport
Phew! What a grandstand finish to the first full day of Rally Sweden action. And this stage (or its shorter variation) will be the last test of the day on both Saturday and Sunday too. So, you definitely don't want to miss what happens on the next two days.
Here's our end of day wrap in one concise article if you need a quick catch-up on everything that's happened this afternoon. We'll be back at 6:30am GMT (7:30am local time) with SS9 on Autosport Live. See you tomorrow!
Here's our end of day wrap in one concise article if you need a quick catch-up on everything that's happened this afternoon. We'll be back at 6:30am GMT (7:30am local time) with SS9 on Autosport Live. See you tomorrow!
We have an update on Latvala; the team has retired his car to avoid that 24 minute time loss and will take a seven minute penalty instead for returning under Rally2. It all works out in the end. Though it probably won't be much comfort to an understandably gutted Latvala.
In WRC2 Pro news, Ostberg gained all of 0.1s over Rovanpera through there, so it's as you were in that class.
But such is the level of quality in the support field this weekend, one of the WRC2 privateers is topping the long list of R5-specification entries and has also just moved into the overall top 10 thanks to Latvala's retirement.
The top three R5-equipped drivers are all in the privateer class, with Ole Christian Veiby still leading the way in his Polo GTI. Behind him is rallycross star Johan Kristoffersson, driving an identical Polo (even its livery is the same!) and Jari Huttunen breaking the VW stronghold in third, running a Printsport-prepared Skoda Fabia.
But such is the level of quality in the support field this weekend, one of the WRC2 privateers is topping the long list of R5-specification entries and has also just moved into the overall top 10 thanks to Latvala's retirement.
The top three R5-equipped drivers are all in the privateer class, with Ole Christian Veiby still leading the way in his Polo GTI. Behind him is rallycross star Johan Kristoffersson, driving an identical Polo (even its livery is the same!) and Jari Huttunen breaking the VW stronghold in third, running a Printsport-prepared Skoda Fabia.
There was a missed opportunity for some smart tactics by Latvala, though. Retiring and returning under Rally2 gives a penalty of seven minutes per stage missed. Torsby is the last stage, so he'd have lost seven minutes, rather than 24.
It would have slotted him somewhere around 26th or 27th thanks to the really strong WRC2 contingent here this weekend, admittedly, but as that Torsby stage shows, you never know what can happen in rallying...
It would have slotted him somewhere around 26th or 27th thanks to the really strong WRC2 contingent here this weekend, admittedly, but as that Torsby stage shows, you never know what can happen in rallying...
So, an update on Latvala. It took almost 24 minutes but, in the end, he and some spectators were able to dig his Yaris out.
He's now in an overall position so low it keeps going down every time another car finishes.
He's now in an overall position so low it keeps going down every time another car finishes.
Information
And here's a glance at how that affects the overall standings. First obvious change; no more Latvala!
Overall classification after SS8 Torsby
1. Suninen 1h11m05.3s
2. Tanak +2.0s
3. Mikkelsen +17.8s
4. Evans +28.6s
5. Lappi +42.0s
Overall classification after SS8 Torsby
1. Suninen 1h11m05.3s
2. Tanak +2.0s
3. Mikkelsen +17.8s
4. Evans +28.6s
5. Lappi +42.0s
Information
So, the top times from that last Friday stage;
1. Lappi 5m50.3s
2. Tanak +2.9s
3. Mikkelsen +4.5s
4. Evans +7.6s
5. Loeb +11.2s
1. Lappi 5m50.3s
2. Tanak +2.9s
3. Mikkelsen +4.5s
4. Evans +7.6s
5. Loeb +11.2s
Evans does indeed arrive in a timely fashion, going fourth quickest and cementing that same position in the overall, picking up a place from Latvala's absence and adding a little extra time in the pocket against Loeb and Neuville behind.
Lappi is 11.8s seconds faster than Neuville on this stage. That's more than enough to nick a place off Neuville. And Loeb. And Meeke! What a time. That 5m50.3s puts him fastest through here by a long way. And up to fifth, assuming Evans arrives in a timely fashion.
That's a nice clean run from Mikkelsen to go second fastest. One that's appreciated from your host, who's afraid his heart can't take much more of this excitement.
Mikkelsen's looking racy. He's second fastest in the splits so far and, with Latvala stuck, he's set to inherit third place now.
Pontus Tidemand has a very slidey moment when getting the anchors out for a slow right corner and nearly enters said corner pointing the wrong way. He collects it up well enough in the end and finishes 10.1s off Tanak's benchmark.
Meanwhile contestant number three, one Jari-Matti Latvala, is still stuck in that snowbank. It looks increasingly like game over for the Finn.
And Suninen crosses the finish line, 11s down on Tanak. So he will be our overnight leader. By all of two seconds.
Suninen is getting very sideways and the lightpod has become detached! So much drama!
Suninen had 13s in hand over Tanak before this stage. So he might still be our overnight leader.
Suninen's now 10s down on Tanak at the second split. It's definitely costing him time!
He might not be visibly slower. But the stopwatch does not lie. Suninen is 6.9s down on Tanak at the first split.
Suninen's still going at speed though, he's not visibly slowing with that lightpod flapping about.
This stage is only five miles long! It was supposed to be a quick trip back to service. So much for that!
Crash
Teemu Suninen's lightpod has worked loose and is partially blocking his windscreen!
Latvala is still stuck. Miikka Antilla is digging away trying to get the stranded Yaris out.
He's jumped out to try and extract it with the aid of some spectators.
He hits a bump heading into a fast right, which pitches his car at a wide angle and off into the snow.
Crash
Latvala is off into a snowbank!
Meeke arrives at stage end, going 2.2s slower than Neuville. So that's Neuville up a place. Though it may be neutralised if Lappi behind can find a bit of pace through here. We'll have to wait and see.
By: Matt Beer
Published:
Lap:
