WRC Rally Sweden 2019
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Colin's Crest is, understandably, Petter Solberg's personal highlight of this stage. He told us a bit more about this stage earlier:
SS14 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."
SS14 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."
Gronholm gets us started on Vargasen. Will he be a bit braver over Colin's Crest this time around?
WRC - Rally Sweden 2019: SS11 / COLINS CREST Highlights
Welcome back! The second pass of Vargasen is coming up in a few minutes time.
This stage is most famous for Colin's Crest, named after the late Colin McRae for its ability to send drivers flying. Above is a glimpse at how brave the drivers were this morning.
This stage is most famous for Colin's Crest, named after the late Colin McRae for its ability to send drivers flying. Above is a glimpse at how brave the drivers were this morning.
The next stage, Vargasen, won't start for another 20 minutes yet, so we'll take a quick break and be back with you shortly. Stay tuned!
A quick WRC2 update; Ole Christian Veiby has been leading for most of the rally now but his advantage is starting to look a tad precarious.
Jari Huttunen has been on a charge since yesterday afternoon – he beat all the WRC cars in his Skoda Fabia R5 on Torsby last night – and has taken 9.4s out of Veiby on Hagfors. The lead gap is down to 22.5s.
Jari Huttunen has been on a charge since yesterday afternoon – he beat all the WRC cars in his Skoda Fabia R5 on Torsby last night – and has taken 9.4s out of Veiby on Hagfors. The lead gap is down to 22.5s.
David Evans
Petter and Pernilla Solberg dominated Rally Sweden Historic, winning every stage in their Ford Escort RS1800. The organisers cut the event short, trimming two stages from Friday and Saturday in an effort to protect the roads for the WRC field. Petter overcame a heavy cold to win the event for fourth time.
“It’s been a great rally,” said Solberg. “It was Pernilla’s birthday today, so we had to win to make this present for her. As well as that, after Oliver won in Latvia (Rally Sarma) last week, he told Pernilla and me we had to do the same so we didn’t let the family down this week!”
Fellow former Swedish Rally winner Mats Jonsson was second to Solberg in his Mazda 323.
“It’s been a great rally,” said Solberg. “It was Pernilla’s birthday today, so we had to win to make this present for her. As well as that, after Oliver won in Latvia (Rally Sarma) last week, he told Pernilla and me we had to do the same so we didn’t let the family down this week!”
Fellow former Swedish Rally winner Mats Jonsson was second to Solberg in his Mazda 323.
As mentioned a little earlier, Petter Solberg clinched victory on the Rally Sweden Historic today, following on from finishing as runner-up the year before. DAVID EVANS caught up with Solberg to find out more.
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As for the overall standings, Neuville has nipped ahead of Evans, while Loeb retakes seventh from Suninen.
Overall classification after SS13 Hagfors 2
1. Tanak 2h07m30.9s
2. Mikkelsen +51.7s
3. Lappi +58.7s
4. Neuville +1m01.9s
5. Evans +1m09.4s
6. Meeke +1m30.7s
7. Loeb +1m37.2s
8. Suninen +1m39.3s
9. Tidemand +3m00.5s
10. Veiby +5m05.6s
Overall classification after SS13 Hagfors 2
1. Tanak 2h07m30.9s
2. Mikkelsen +51.7s
3. Lappi +58.7s
4. Neuville +1m01.9s
5. Evans +1m09.4s
6. Meeke +1m30.7s
7. Loeb +1m37.2s
8. Suninen +1m39.3s
9. Tidemand +3m00.5s
10. Veiby +5m05.6s
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Right, so, here's how the WRC crews fared through the second pass of Hagfors.
SS13 Hagfors stage results
1. Tanak 12m38.6s
2. Neuville +2.4s
3. Lappi +3.8s
4. Loeb +7.4s
5. Ogier +9.1s
6. Suninen +10.2s
7. Mikkelsen +11.3s
8. Evans +12.9s
9. Latvala +19.0s
10. Meeke +19.9s
SS13 Hagfors stage results
1. Tanak 12m38.6s
2. Neuville +2.4s
3. Lappi +3.8s
4. Loeb +7.4s
5. Ogier +9.1s
6. Suninen +10.2s
7. Mikkelsen +11.3s
8. Evans +12.9s
9. Latvala +19.0s
10. Meeke +19.9s
I'm also guilty of misreading the timing data; The gap was 19s not 12 between Meeke and Loeb. Apologies for that mistake.
Meeke remains where he is in sixth, though Loeb and Suninen have both closed in further. Loeb is now up to seventh by passing Suninen.
Meeke remains where he is in sixth, though Loeb and Suninen have both closed in further. Loeb is now up to seventh by passing Suninen.
Just Suninen to go now. He successfully navigates the corner at which he ploughed into a snowbank this morning without issue. But he's 2.8s slower than Loeb and falls behind the Frenchman.
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Tanak takes another stage win, cementing his lead and building his advantage over Mikkelsen to 51.7s. Job done.
That mistake has brought Lappi and Neuville into the frame for second place. Mikkelsen only has seven seconds in hand over the lead Citroen, while his team-mate is a further 3.2s behind Lappi.
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"We had a moment, lost the grip completely and went into the snowbank. We were lucky we got out," says Mikkelsen.
At least he recognises his good fortune there!
At least he recognises his good fortune there!
Mikkelsen had been pretty close to Neuville's pace throughout that stage but arrives 8.9s down on his Hyundai team-mate.
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Mikkelsen runs wide at a fast right. He dips into a snowbank, gets out, but pendulums back into the same snowbank. He plows through it and eventually gets out but that's a few seconds lost. He's lucky he didn't get stuck!
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Evans has finished and, as expected, he's fallen behind Neuville to fifth place.
"I had a terrible stage, a mountain of oversteer to the point it was undrivaeble."
"I had a terrible stage, a mountain of oversteer to the point it was undrivaeble."
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Yesterday there was more variation in pace during the afternoon pass of stages. Lappi explains why it's happening again today.
"It's very tricky because, let's say, to be on the pace and to be off completely is a much thinner line than on the first pass. If you lose the car, you can lose the whole race because there's so much slush."
"It's very tricky because, let's say, to be on the pace and to be off completely is a much thinner line than on the first pass. If you lose the car, you can lose the whole race because there's so much slush."
Lappi does a 12m40.6, which puts him second fastest behind Neuville. But the gap is only 1.4s, so he'll stay third. For now.
Lappi's done a brilliant fourth split and reduced the live gap to Neuville down to 1.2s. He might keep third after all.
Ogier has kept his road order position ahead of Lappi. He's third quickest here.
Evans is 7.6s down on Neuville and also trailing Lappi at the third split. He's projected to drop to fifth. The question is whether Neuville climbs only to fourth, or heads directly to third...
Loeb takes 12.5s out of Meeke. He's up a place. We just don't know to what position, yet, as Suninen is our last WRC car through and is also in the midst of this battle over sixth place.
Lappi can't keep up with Neuville's pace here. He's 4.5s down on Neuville at the third split. That's only 0.1s shy of the overall deficit.
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"I had a good stage but I don't know about the tyres, so towards the end I slowed down quite a lot as I don't want to destroy the tyres here. There's a few more stages to go, so we need to be clever," says Neuville at stage end.
Neuville smashes everyone to bits with a 12m39.2s. 17.5s quicker than Meeke.
I guess Meeke will be taking the rally organisers off his Christmas card list, then. Or maybe the meteorologists. Either way, he's very frustrated.
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"Horrible. Absolutely horrible. That's worst than the trickest stage I've ever done in Monte Carlo. The only thing in your mind is surviving. It's really unpleasant to drive."
A 12m56.7s is second fastest for Meeke so far. But those behind look set to "murder" him, as Meeke put it earlier.
That realtime Meeke-Loeb gap on this stage is now 9.1s. Loeb might get the job done in one go here at this rate.
Both Suninen and Loeb have a sniff of making a place here, such is Meeke's lack of pace. Loeb's not far off Neuville so far and is already 6.6s up on Meeke by the second split.
Loeb is two places and 12s behind Meeke in the overall classification, for reference.
Loeb is two places and 12s behind Meeke in the overall classification, for reference.
Meeke is really struggling here. He's already 12.3s down on Neuville at the third split. That's even slower than Latvala, who was second on the road.
Neuville is already two seconds up on Meeke at the first split. Hopes of a podium for Meeke are starting to slip away slightly.
No wonder Gronholm was upset; Janne Tuohino, who he's been consistently faster than this weekend, is 4.2s up on Gronholm at the third split.
Gronholm did a 13m20.4s through there, by the way. That's around 25 seconds slower than his time through here this morning. That's what running first on the road on a degrading surface will do your times.
Oh dear. There were some choice Finnish words uttered by Gronholm as he crossed the finish line. The one that begins with V. If you know Finnish, you know what I mean!
Oops. Gronholm has a bit of a deeper dive into a soft, slushy snowbank but again drives out of it without any issue. Maybe a second or two lost.
Gronholm is still making his way through Hagfors, He dipped the rear of his Yaris into a somewhat soft snowbank a little earlier but no harm done.
DAVID EVANS is on the scene for us in Sweden and has confirmed Kristoffersson went off the road in Rammen, rather than pulling over to change a tyre. Kristoffersson can be happy with his pace up until this point, at least.
By: Matt Beer
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