WRC Rally Sweden 2019
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What's the secret to Sweden success? Jari-Matti Latvala clearly knows his stuff here, climbing from fifth to third place this morning and reaching to within only 0.1s of second position to boot. He shared some tips with us pre-event.
Excess weight – a necessary evil
"Another thing which can compromise the set-up a little bit is having to take two spares all of the time. We need to have two spares to make sure we have always got good studs in the tyres, but putting this extra weight in the rear of the car (with the extra spare tyre, around 25kg) means we have to raise the rear a little bit to try to avoid getting too much understeer."
Excess weight – a necessary evil
"Another thing which can compromise the set-up a little bit is having to take two spares all of the time. We need to have two spares to make sure we have always got good studs in the tyres, but putting this extra weight in the rear of the car (with the extra spare tyre, around 25kg) means we have to raise the rear a little bit to try to avoid getting too much understeer."
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Good afternoon rally fans! We're back for the Friday afternoon loop of Rally Sweden. Our first driver, Sebastien Ogier, should be setting off into the rerun of Hof-Finnskog in approximately 10 minutes.
Here's a quick catch-up of the morning;
* Tanak leads, winning two stages so far today
* Suninen and Latvala occupy second and third, separated by 0.1s
* Neuville and Ogier drop from first and second to fourth and fifth
* Gronholm out on WRC return after ploughing through snowbank
Here's a quick catch-up of the morning;
* Tanak leads, winning two stages so far today
* Suninen and Latvala occupy second and third, separated by 0.1s
* Neuville and Ogier drop from first and second to fourth and fifth
* Gronholm out on WRC return after ploughing through snowbank
Autosport
That's a wrap for this morning's loop. Tanak takes the lead, Suninen on a charge and a sad end to Gronholm's comeback. Read the morning digest below.
We'll be back at 12:45 GMT (13:45 local time) for the re-run of Hof-Finnskog. See you then!
We'll be back at 12:45 GMT (13:45 local time) for the re-run of Hof-Finnskog. See you then!
Historic entrants are now making their way through the morning's opening stage, Hof-Finnskog.
No Petter Solberg just yet, who's a favourite for victory after finishing second here last year, but 81 year old(!) Rauno Aaltonen, winner of the 1967 Rally Monte Carlo in a BMC Mini Cooper, is back in a Mini for the second successive year.
Aaltonen is eighth fastest so far, though there's still a lot of cars to come through yet.
No Petter Solberg just yet, who's a favourite for victory after finishing second here last year, but 81 year old(!) Rauno Aaltonen, winner of the 1967 Rally Monte Carlo in a BMC Mini Cooper, is back in a Mini for the second successive year.
Aaltonen is eighth fastest so far, though there's still a lot of cars to come through yet.
Predictably there's battles everywhere in WRC2, with the top nine drivers still covered by less than a minute. Last of those is Henning Solberg, who has 130 WRC appearances to his name, which goes to show how competitive this lot are!
Notably it's also a Volkswagen Polo GTI 1-2-3 in WRC2 now, with Veiby leading rallycross ace Johan Kristoffersson by 18.4s. Emil Lindholm, who currently leads the Finnish championship after winning last month's Arctic Lapland rally, is third, 24.4s behind Veiby.
Turning to the packed WRC2 field, Ole Christian Veiby has gone fastest again on SS4, replicating his stage-winning effort in SS3. He's now ahead of WRC2 Pro leader Mads Ostberg.
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And now the overall standings after that loop-ending test.
Classification after SS4 Rojden
1. Tanak 33m16.5s
2. Suninen +5.5s
3. Latvala +5.6s
4. Neuville +6.0s
5. Ogier +14.4s
6. Lappi +14.8s
7. Mikkelsen +17.3s
8. Meeke +29.8s
9. Loeb +43.5s
10. Evans +45.1s
Classification after SS4 Rojden
1. Tanak 33m16.5s
2. Suninen +5.5s
3. Latvala +5.6s
4. Neuville +6.0s
5. Ogier +14.4s
6. Lappi +14.8s
7. Mikkelsen +17.3s
8. Meeke +29.8s
9. Loeb +43.5s
10. Evans +45.1s
Onboard from Janne Tuohino suggests that Gronholm slid wide at a fast right-hander and went through a snowbank nose-first. Both Gronholm and co-driver Timo Rautiainen are reported to be OK after the off.
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So, stage times. We'll assume Gronholm isn't going to set one, sadly. Meanwhile gentleman driver Bertelli had a spin in there, so he's not set a time just yet.
1. Tanak 8m42.5s
2. Latvala +0.2s
3. Evans +1.1s
4. Neuville +1.8s
5. Suninen +2.0s
6. Lappi +2.3s
7. Mikkelsen +2.7s
8. Ogier +5.0s
9. Meeke +8.2s
10. Loeb +8.4s
1. Tanak 8m42.5s
2. Latvala +0.2s
3. Evans +1.1s
4. Neuville +1.8s
5. Suninen +2.0s
6. Lappi +2.3s
7. Mikkelsen +2.7s
8. Ogier +5.0s
9. Meeke +8.2s
10. Loeb +8.4s
Evans meanwhile is actually having his best run so far this morning, going third fastest. He's only 1.1s off Tanak's time and the best M-Sport driver through here.
Crash
It's not Evans that's off, it's Gronholm! He's way off into the snow and surrounded by trees. There's no-one in the car.
Lappi arrives with a 8m44.8s. That's good enough for fifth fastest time here. It also keeps him ahead of Mikkelsen.
Crash
Evans has reportedly stopped in the stage, though we don't have visual confirmation just yet. He was 10th before this stage.
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"After 5km I destroyed the front-end aero and felt like I had a puncture. I lost a bit of rhythm after that. I Just went a little bit wide by mistake," explains Mikkelsen.
He got away with it, though, losing only 2.7s relative to our fastest driver so far, Tanak.
He got away with it, though, losing only 2.7s relative to our fastest driver so far, Tanak.
It's more than just hanging off - the front left light cluster and surrounding bodywork has been ripped off!
So, Mikkelsen is pushing. You can tell because there's a bit of bodywork hanging off his Hyundai that's obscuring his outboard camera.
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"We have some problems," is the most we can get out of him. The car stalls. He refires it and gets on his way quickly.
He's still revving the car quite aggressively at stop control.
Pontus Tidemand is still with us despite his earlier car drama and goes 17.9s slower than pacesetter Tanak. Will he speak to the media at stage end this time?
Suninen keeps second for now. But Latvala is now only 0.1s behind in third!
After his stage-winning performance on the last test, Teemu Suninen drops a few tenths to his rivals, 2.0s behind Tanak and 0.2s off Neuville's time.
Latvala is second fastest here. 0.2s off team-mate Tanak.
Mikkelsen sets the second fastest opening split, slower only than Neuville. Esapekka Lappi will be on high alert, as only 2.1s separate the pair in their battle for seventh.
Loeb clocks on 0.2s down on Meeke and 8.4s down on Tanak. Unless Evans puts on a charge here he'll likely finish the loop 10th.
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"I'm enjoying it, the car feels OK. I just feel in this condition I'm not exploring enough," says Meeke. If he's hesitant now, this afternoon might be a painful experience.
Meeke arrives 6.2s down on Tanak's fastest time. He was ninth before this stage – let's see what Mikkelsen does later and if he can gain a spot or two.
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"Beginning of this stage I wasn't in a good rhythm," says Tanak.
"It's been one of the nicest Sweden conditions for the moment but the second loop will be completely different."
"It's been one of the nicest Sweden conditions for the moment but the second loop will be completely different."
Tanak's pulled something out of the hat in this last split. He was hovering a few tenths behind Neuville throughout that – then arrives at stage end 1.8s up. That must have been an incredible final split!
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"It's very bumpy in there, I was struggling like a kangaroo. The second pass will be very tough."
Not sure what sort of nature documentaries Neuville has been watching! Kangaroos in Sweden?
Not sure what sort of nature documentaries Neuville has been watching! Kangaroos in Sweden?
Neuville builds another 3.2s into his advantage over title rival Ogier by stage end.
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"The toughest part for me is coming in the second loop," says Ogier. He'll be first onto the road this afternoon after WRC, WRC2, JWRC and Historic cars have all been through later this morning, which means a messy road with lots of ruts. Fun.
Ogier does an 8m47.5s.
Ogier's starting to drop off a little bit now, 2.1s off Neuville and 1.5s off Tanak at split two.
Our first splits are in and it's Neuville on top so far, 0.7s up on Ogier and 0.8s ahead of Tanak.
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Speaking of the Historic rally, Petter Solberg is competing in said event with a Ford Escort again this year, finishing second overall in 2018. He gives us an idea of what to expect from the stage currently live, Rojden.
SS4 Rojden (11.24 miles)
This is really the perfect stage for Pernilla and me. It starts in her country then crosses the border to my home in Norway before it goes back over to Sweden for the finish. The organisers have added a kilometre and a half to the end. The actual driving for this one is not easy, the road is really not so easy, with plenty of tricky places and off-camber corners. It’s really fast as you climb the hill with lots of little bumps and crests – the feeling in the car on this one is really nice. Towards the end there’s one really slippery junction for a square left – everybody seems to have a bit of a moment here.
SS4 Rojden (11.24 miles)
This is really the perfect stage for Pernilla and me. It starts in her country then crosses the border to my home in Norway before it goes back over to Sweden for the finish. The organisers have added a kilometre and a half to the end. The actual driving for this one is not easy, the road is really not so easy, with plenty of tricky places and off-camber corners. It’s really fast as you climb the hill with lots of little bumps and crests – the feeling in the car on this one is really nice. Towards the end there’s one really slippery junction for a square left – everybody seems to have a bit of a moment here.
While we let the leaders get on their way and set some representative split times, a quick update from service park in Torsby.
Rally Sweden Historic, which runs concurrently to the main WRC event, has cancelled its planned run through the Torsby stage. WRC crews are due to pass through it once per day until the end of the rally – it completes today's set of seven stages – which posed concern for the organisers.
"To be able to save the Torsby Stage throughout the weekend, being run both Friday, Saturday and Sunday, including a Power Stage, we need to make sure that the surface holds up for the WRC event," read a statement from the Historic organisers.
Those fears of difficult conditions may come to pass thanks to a lack of minus temperatures overnight, it appears. More background on that story here.
Rally Sweden Historic, which runs concurrently to the main WRC event, has cancelled its planned run through the Torsby stage. WRC crews are due to pass through it once per day until the end of the rally – it completes today's set of seven stages – which posed concern for the organisers.
"To be able to save the Torsby Stage throughout the weekend, being run both Friday, Saturday and Sunday, including a Power Stage, we need to make sure that the surface holds up for the WRC event," read a statement from the Historic organisers.
Those fears of difficult conditions may come to pass thanks to a lack of minus temperatures overnight, it appears. More background on that story here.
Green flag
And there's no rest for a breather until the next stage - Ogier heads into SS4!
Pietarinen has arrived, it's just the system hasn't given him a time yet, it seems. The windscreen on his Skoda is caved in, front left damage – trademark signs of a roll. Needless to say he's last in WRC2 Pro now.
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Pietarainen's lost even more time than Rovanpera has – and straight away, in the first split no less – so it's all change in the WRC2 Pro classification.
1. Ostberg 25m55.5s
2. Greensmith +25.5s
3. Rovanpera +2m17.3s
Still no time for Pietarainen yet, which suggests he might not have even made the finish as several WRC2 cars have arrived since.
1. Ostberg 25m55.5s
2. Greensmith +25.5s
3. Rovanpera +2m17.3s
Still no time for Pietarainen yet, which suggests he might not have even made the finish as several WRC2 cars have arrived since.
By: Matt Beer
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