Autosport Podcast: WRC Rally Sweden Review
Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera has assumed the lead of the World Rally Championship following a faultless drive to victory at a new-look Rally Sweden last weekend.
The famous snow event moved 800km north east from its spiritual home providing a whole new set of stages for the WRC’s current crop of drivers to tackle.
While Sebastien Loeb became the oldest WRC winner after taking out the first round of the new hybrid era in Monte Carlo, it was the youngest winner that claimed a third career win in Sweden, comfortably beating Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville by a margin of 22.0s.
Rovanpera’s win came after a thrilling six-way battle for supremacy was whittled down to four and then a showdown with Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans on Saturday afternoon, before the Welshman incurred a 10s penalty after a wild stage end finish, and then retired due to a hybrid issue on Sunday.
PLUS: How Rovanpera grabbed the Rally Sweden spotlight after the Loeb vs Ogier show
While Rovanpera took the glory, Hyundai produced a significant turnaround in performance and reliability from its woes in Monte Carlo. All three i20 Ns challenged for the lead during the event before a hybrid issue and a throttle problem took Ott Tanak and Oliver Solberg out of contention.
However, it proved to be a difficult weekend for M-Sport Ford after its Monte Carlo heroics as crashes and technical issues halted its charge.
Join Martyn Lee and Autosport’s WRC reporter Tom Howard as they discuss all the key talking points from Rally Sweden.
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