WRC Sweden: Rovanpera ahead of Evans after bizarre end to Saturday

Rovanpera came under pressure from Evans as the latter closed to within 1.2s of the Finn, but a masterful display on the final two night stages extended Rovanpera’s lead to 8.3s

Evans was lucky to end the day after a strange finish to the final stage. The Welshman was caught out by a snowbank on the final corner and was briefly stranded but amazingly had cut the time beam in the process of losing control.

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville ended the day in third 21.7s adrift after an eventful day that started with him leading the rally by 4.3s. However, the Belgian lost the lead in the morning’s first stage and dropped to fourth following a spin in the final test of that loop.

Neuville made amends during the three afternoon stages to reclaim third as Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi dropped to fourth, 25.9s shy of Rovanpera.

Toyota’s fourth entry for Takamoto Katsuta ended the day in fifth after leapfrogging Oliver Solberg, who was late to the final stage after stopping to fix a throttle issue. The Swede dropped seventh overall.

M-Sport Ford’s Gus Greensmith also jumped teammate Adrien Fourmaux to claim sixth after the Frenchman battled an engine issue on the final stage.

The third M-Sport Ford driven by Craig Breen, that had returned to action after retiring on Friday, fared even worse failing to reach the end of Saturday’s action.

After winning the final stage of the morning, the Irishman ground to halt on the penultimate stage of the day with an electrical problem.

The battle for the lead intensified on the afternoon’s first stage which was won by Evans after a risk taking drive on the heavily rutted roads.

Evans’ efforts were rewarded as he reduced the 4.8s gap to his rally leader teammate Rovanpera down to 1.2s.

Rovanpera admitted he was at this limit in the conditions but was unable to match his team, ending the stage with the third fastest time.

Determined to recover the lost ground following a spin on the morning’s final stage, Neuville successfully issued a response to clock the second fastest time. The effort wasn’t enough to reclaim third overall but ended the test 0.3s behind third placed Lappi.

Toyota’s fourth driver Katsuta was fifth fastest having laid down an impressive benchmark making use of the snow banks to keep him on the road, describing the effort as like “being on a bobsleigh”.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Rovanpera responded to Evans’ charge on the next stage, producing arguably the drive of the rally to date as darkness descended.

Evans had already laid down an impressive benchmark that included a superb save, but Rovanpera raised the bar with a faultless run to beat his teammate by 4.5s, increasing his rally lead to 5.7s in the process.

Neuville was also on a charge making use of Hyundai’s faster top end speed compared to Toyota, although a brief run in with a snowbank took the gloss off a strong run. The drive was only 5.3s shy of Rovanpera but crucially the time was enough to reclaim the final podium spot from Lappi, who dropped to fourth.

The stage was not without drama as Breen’s Puma came to halt having lost power two kilometres in to the stage. It prompted officials to delay competitors coming through until the Irishman was able to move the car under EV power to a safe location. He was unable to contest the day's final stage.

Rovanpera ended the day in style by winning the final stage by 2.6s from a lucky Evans after his mishap at the final corner. Neuville was faster than Lappi to hold third overall.

The rally will conclude tomorrow once crews tackle four more stages.