WRC Rally Sweden 2019
Live Text
Sort by
A 5m22.0s from Loeb puts him 2.2s off Ogier and third fastest so far.
He's doing well so far through here, though, only two seconds slower than Ogier at the second split.
Sebastien Loeb is currently in the stage. He would have hoped to catch Kris Meeke for sixth but he's dropped off the back of the Toyota driver this morning. So he'll likely have to settle for seventh.
Quote
"I've really been improving this week. We need time to learn the car with the aerodynamics and how quick it is," says Tidemand, summing up his weekend. But with his M-Sport deal coming to an end here, will he be back in a Ford Fiesta WRC again this year?
"I don't know yet but I hope there will be some more [rallies] this year."
"I don't know yet but I hope there will be some more [rallies] this year."
Tidemand is coming to the end of his run through Torsby now. It's a 5m28.0s, 8.3s slower than Ogier's benchmark.
We won't find out who scores the final point with 10th place for a long while yet, by the way. Janne Tuohino and Mads Ostberg were only four seconds apart entering this stage so it could go either way.
But Tuohino isn't an 'FIA Priority One' entrant, so he's been shoved in behind all the WRC2 and Junior WRC drivers in the running order.
But Tuohino isn't an 'FIA Priority One' entrant, so he's been shoved in behind all the WRC2 and Junior WRC drivers in the running order.
Bertelli sets a 5m36.0s. That's only 3.3s off Gronholm's effort, so it's a good effort in the end.
The first driver who enters this stage in the top 10 overall is on his way; Pontus Tidemand, in eighth.
Lorenzo Bertelli is slowest through the stage at the first split. But, to the gentleman driver's merit, he's managed to get this far without retiring and restarting, which is more than can be said for some of the WRC field this weekend.
Quote
Latvala looks a tad exasperated at the finish.
"It's getting very difficult in this last part because it's still the ruts and snow and slush. I had little bit of understeer in some places. I'm not sure if [the road conditions are] getting better or worse because some of the lines are taking you off the road."
"It's getting very difficult in this last part because it's still the ruts and snow and slush. I had little bit of understeer in some places. I'm not sure if [the road conditions are] getting better or worse because some of the lines are taking you off the road."
Latvala sets a 5m20.8s. That was a solid second half of the stage, finishing only 1.1s off Ogier's best and ahead of Suninen.
Jari-Matti Latvala has set his first split time. He's 3.6s down on Ogier and 1.5s off Suninen. Not looking great for bonus points here.
If there's one small consolation for Suninen it's that he showed strong pace this weekend and will start well down the running order for the next round, Rally Mexico, where the championship front-runners will struggle with road sweeping.
Suninen sets a 5m23.3s, 3.6s slower than Ogier.
Suninen is another of the Rally2 contingent after his retirement late yesterday, when he hit a tree and damage a rollcage. And he led briefly on Friday, don't forget!
Suninen's making his best effort to pick up some bonus points here. But he's 2.5s off Ogier at the second split.
Quote
Ostberg is smiling but perhaps not for the reason you'd expect.
"It's a smile of relief to be at the end but for sure the result is good. To come here on the first rally in this category and win, that's of course very good," he says. He had been struggling to get on top of the C3 R5 all weekend.
"The result is really strong and for a long championship it's nice to get full points for the team."
"It's a smile of relief to be at the end but for sure the result is good. To come here on the first rally in this category and win, that's of course very good," he says. He had been struggling to get on top of the C3 R5 all weekend.
"The result is really strong and for a long championship it's nice to get full points for the team."
It's a revival of the old Ford vs Citroen WRC rivalry of the mid-2000s, as M-Sport were top of that category after Monte Carlo with Gus Greensmith's victory there.
Ostberg crosses the line with a 5m35.1s, clinching WRC2 Pro victory for Citroen.
Mads Ostberg is now on his way, bumped up in the running order because he's leading WRC2 Pro. He has a comfortable lead and will wrap up that class win, so long as he doesn't get stuck in a snowbank or something equally dramatic.
Quote
"I don't think I will get much more now because the end is really slushy and it's going to improve a lot [for later cars]," says Ogier. He doesn't seem that optimistic about his chances of scoring some bonus points here.
"Let's focus on Mexico."
"Let's focus on Mexico."
Ogier sets a 5m19.7s to establish a new benchmark.
Ogier leaps gracefully into the arena stage. It's hard to say if his time is a strong one or not given he's running so high up the road order. But it looks pretty tidy and fast, as you'd expect from a six-time champion.
Gronholm's benchmark through there was a 5m32.6s. Ogier is on track to beat it, running 8.5s up at the first split.
Quote
"A lot of action!" says Gronholm when asked to sum up his Rally Sweden cameo. But what was his best moment?
"The last stage was OK!" he says.
"The last stage was OK!" he says.
And that's a wrap. Marcus Gronholm has completed the stage.
Gronholm makes his way through the arena section of the Torsby stage Not long to go now.
Ogier is now on his way. He's well outside of the Top 10 and thus won't score any points the old fashioned way, so he could do with picking up a power stage bonus here.
There's no tactics from Ogier here, however. He has checked into time control on time and will start second on the road by the looks of it.
He had run out of position deliberately throughout yesterday afternoon.
He had run out of position deliberately throughout yesterday afternoon.
Unlike Likenas this morning, there appears to be a a distinct lack of ice and snow here. The road surface is looking a bit cut up and full of gravel. This might favour the later runners, as was the case on this stage when it was last run in full on Friday.
Information
Gronholm's old rival Petter Solberg gave us a preview of the stages in between competing in the Rally Sweden Historic this weekend, which he won, of course. Here's his take on the power stage:
SS19 Torsby (5.54 miles)
This is the same as last year, except it’s 630 metres shorter than last time and the jump – which comes just before the finish – has been changed a little bit. We start with some twisty bits before the hairpin left that takes you down to the lake and then we’re alongside the service park, where all the mechanics and basically everybody can watch – we don’t want to get this bit wrong! The stage finishes and then comes straight into service, which is cool if you’re ready for a cup of tea.
The final section of this stage has been used quite a lot on the event (it’s Saturday’s final test in the Torsby Sprint format which uses the final 1.73 miles of the stage) which is why the organisers water this road, to make the ice thicker. With the days being a bit warmer, this stage could be quite rutted and bumpy in places, especially near the end.
SS19 Torsby (5.54 miles)
This is the same as last year, except it’s 630 metres shorter than last time and the jump – which comes just before the finish – has been changed a little bit. We start with some twisty bits before the hairpin left that takes you down to the lake and then we’re alongside the service park, where all the mechanics and basically everybody can watch – we don’t want to get this bit wrong! The stage finishes and then comes straight into service, which is cool if you’re ready for a cup of tea.
The final section of this stage has been used quite a lot on the event (it’s Saturday’s final test in the Torsby Sprint format which uses the final 1.73 miles of the stage) which is why the organisers water this road, to make the ice thicker. With the days being a bit warmer, this stage could be quite rutted and bumpy in places, especially near the end.
First up is Marcus Gronholm on what is widely anticipated to be his last ever WRC stage. It's been great having him back, even if his lack of practice means he's struggled this weekend.
Welcome back to Autosport Live for Rally Sweden 2019's final stage, Torsby. As usual the final stage is the power stage, so five bonus points are up for grabs for the fastest driver, with bonuses also awarded to those down to fifth fastest on this stage.
Autosport
It's a bit of a wait until the final stage begins, so we'll be back will full coverage of the Torsby at 11:15am GMT (12:15 local time).
Until then, here's a quick recap of the action through both of those passes of Likenas. See you back here in about an hour!
Until then, here's a quick recap of the action through both of those passes of Likenas. See you back here in about an hour!
Oddly this also means our closest battle in the top 10 is now over the final points position, between Janne Tuohino and WRC2 Pro leader Mads Ostberg.
Tuohino sneaked up on us there but has been plugging away nicely this morning. Usually you'd expect a WRC car to beat an R5 on any given day but, based on Huttunen's stage win on Torsby two days ago, Ostberg could conceivably pinch an overall top 10 away from Tuohino at the finish.
Tuohino sneaked up on us there but has been plugging away nicely this morning. Usually you'd expect a WRC car to beat an R5 on any given day but, based on Huttunen's stage win on Torsby two days ago, Ostberg could conceivably pinch an overall top 10 away from Tuohino at the finish.
Veiby now has over two minutes in hand over second placed WRC2 runner Emil Lindholm, so he can do an Ogier on the next stage and tip-toe his way through.
That's a shame for Huttunen. He was under pressure to perform this weekend after appearing to lose his place in Hyundai's junior development programme at the end of last year (though it was never formally announced).
He was absolutely flying yesterday afternoon with four stage wins out of five, an outright stage win on Torsby on Friday and two overall top five times yesterday. He's still showing on tracking as stopped early in Likenas, so his rally looks to be over.
He was absolutely flying yesterday afternoon with four stage wins out of five, an outright stage win on Torsby on Friday and two overall top five times yesterday. He's still showing on tracking as stopped early in Likenas, so his rally looks to be over.
He'll lose 10th overall along with second in WRC2 after this stoppage.
Some WRC2 news. Jari Huttunen had been pushing to catch leader Ole Christian Veiby but has stopped in the stage. He had been 0.3s up on Veiby at the first split but hasn't reached the next timing point.
Information
No position changes in WRC this time around but some gaps are continuing to fluctuate.
Overall classification after SS18 Likenas 2
1. Tanak 2h42m14.9s
2. Lappi +48.8s
3. Neuville +53.2s
4. Mikkelsen +57.4s
5. Evans +1m03.8s
Overall classification after SS18 Likenas 2
1. Tanak 2h42m14.9s
2. Lappi +48.8s
3. Neuville +53.2s
4. Mikkelsen +57.4s
5. Evans +1m03.8s
By: Matt Beer
Published:
Lap:
