Rally Sweden: Sebastien Ogier pulling away on Friday
Sebastien Ogier is pulling away in the Rally Sweden lead after the first loop of Friday morning stages

Initially the Volkswagen driver was in a tight battle with team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala and Sebastien Loeb's Citroen. Just one second covered the trio at the end of Lesjofors, the morning's opener.
But after that, Ogier began to move clear. A string of fastest stage times put him 10.1s after SS4.
Latvala fell back to third with a disappointing time on SS3, before getting within 0.8s as he regained confidence on the Vargasen stage.
Mads Ostberg should be a factor in the lead battle given his pace on the stages. But penalties for arriving late at SS3 having had to try and rectify overheating problems on the road section mean he is 40s back in sixth place.
Top Ford is, remarkably, World Rally Car debutant Pontus Tidemand. The WRC Academy graduate is just ahead of Qatar M-Sport pair Evgeny Novikov and Ostberg in fourth.
The morning has already seen plenty of incidents. The most significant was Mikko Hirvonen crashing his Citroen on the first stage of the morning and losing 20 minutes stuck off the road.
Jarkko Nikara, Matthew Wilson and Khalid Al-Qassimi have also dropped several minutes with excursions, Wilson and Al-Qassimi having crashed at the same spot on SS2.
Leading times after SS4: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Ogier VW 38m26.0s 2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 10.1s 3. Jari-Matti Latvala VW + 10.9s 4. Pontus Tidemand PTM Ford + 35.7s 5. Evgeny Novikov Qatar M-Sport Ford + 37.8s 6. Mads Ostberg Qatar M-Sport Ford + 40.0s 7. Juho Hanninen Qatar M-Sport Ford + 1m02.6s 8. Dani Sordo Citroen + 1m12.5s 9. Thierry Neuville Qatar M-Sport Ford + 1m24.2s 10. Henning Solberg M-Sport Ford + 1m44.6s

Rally Sweden: Sebastien Loeb takes early lead
Rally Sweden: M-Sport sure Mads Ostberg still in hunt after problem

Why WRC's Safari tour is more than just a rally
OPINION: A source of national pride in Kenya, the Safari Rally is also a sporting, cultural and economic phenomenon. And as last weekend's World Rally Championship round reminded us, it's a key driver in establishing Africa’s place in world motorsport
How Rovanpera tamed a wild Safari Rally
The Safari Rally acted as a brutal test of driver and car resolve as multiple retirements opened the path for a historic Toyota 1-2-3-4 triumph, headed by star Kalle Rovanpera. But keeping things clean was only half of the challenge, as a well-timed charge when conditions worsened allowed the Finn to take control
How Tanak turned the tables to deliver Hyundai a timely WRC triumph
The 2019 champion has been a bit-part player recently, but Ott Tanak ended a 15-month drought in fine style with a dominant win in Sardinia. On a weekend when championship leader Kalle Rovanpera struggled with cleaning the road, his Hyundai rival has made his belated arrival into the title race and given cause for those predicting a walkover from the Toyota star to pause
How Rovanpera overcame rallying royalty in Portugal to extend his WRC lead
Although the Rally Portugal entry list featured World Rally Championship royalty in Sebastiens Loeb and Ogier, victory was secured by rallying's rising star in Kalle Rovanpera. Here's the story of his 2022 hat-trick, as his key rivals faltered among the gravel and asphalt ahead of them
The former WRC star playing the unsung hero role for Rovanpera
Kalle Rovanpera’s 2022 World Rally Championship displays have been spectacular, with the Toyota driver benefitting from a secret weapon in his crew to win two of the opening three rallies. But while the former challenger to Sebastien Loeb won’t take credit for his fellow Finn's performances, a key bond has been formed which could prove key to Rovanpera’s title charge
How Rovanpera's Croatia turnaround sent a message to his WRC rivals
After a dominating Rally Croatia, a wrong tyre choice on the final day looked to have undone all Kalle Rovanpera's hard work and left him with a mountain to climb heading into the power stage. That he emerged the winner all the same has surely quelled any lingering doubts that the Finn is the man to beat in the 2022 WRC
How M-Sport's faith in Loubet led to a WRC reprieve after a dismal 2021
It's fair to say 2021 was a year to forget for Pierre-Louis Loubet. A maiden full World Rally Championship season offered hope but soon turned into a nightmare that ended in hospital, after being hit by a car in a road traffic accident. Now handed a lifeline by M-Sport, the Frenchman is desperate to rebuild his career
Why WRC mechanics deserve more respect
The drivers get the glare of attention, but it’s the mechanics who are key to the operation of any World Rally Championship car. Autosport donned a set of overalls and joined M-Sport on a Belgian national rally event to get an inside look into the trials and tribulations of a rally mechanic