History repeats as WRC Sweden heads the way of a Rovanperä

Closer to the Arctic Circle, competitors faced sub-zero temperatures and iced roads lined by deep snow banks for this year’s Rallye Sweden.

The second round of the 2022 World Rally Championship (WRC) proved to be a testing one for many of the teams as the new hybrid-powered Rally 1 cars moved into the region of Västerbotten, 700 km further north than previous WRC events, to face 17 special stages based around the northern city of Umeå.

Originally scheduled as a 19 special stage event, the Örträsk 20.49 km stage which was due to run on Saturday morning and again in the afternoon as the final daylight stage of the leg, had to be cancelled due to the movement of reindeer.

Rallye Monte Carlo winner and runner up and current leaders in the Driver’s Championship, Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier, were not among the 50 strong entries, as both have opted not to compete for the full season.

This meant the road would be opened by third placed driver in the title chase, Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Kalle Rovanperä with co-driver Jonne Halttunen, the team had posted the fastest time in the previous day’s shakedown sessions.

Day 1 of the rally proved to be a tough experience for many of the crews, with the lead changing five times over the seven stages, drivers were surprised by the lack of grip due to exceptionally thick snow.

M-Spot Ford’s Gus Greensmith and co-driver Jonas Andersson overshot a square right corner and had to stop and reverse losing 21.2 seconds on stage one, teammate Craig Breen with Paul Nagle plunged into a snow bank resulting in stage 2 being halted to remove the stricken car.

It was hard to believe the number of issues experienced on the first day by almost all of the top runners, many hitting and burying their cars in snow banks, stalling, electrical issues and lost bodywork (affecting the aerodynamics), transmission problems and a few running without the hybrid system due to unexplained failures of the system.

Stage winners on the day were Hyundai’s Ott Tanäk and Rovanperä both taking two, Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Elfyn Evans and Esapekka Lappi with Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville all taking one apiece. It was Neuville who led at the overnight halt by 4.3 seconds from second placed Rovanpera who was 3.1 seconds ahead of Evans in third.

An encouraging return for Esapekka Lappi and his co-driver Janne Ferm in the third Yaris, winning stage 2 and taking the overall lead, albeit for a short time. Breen and Tanäk both retired with mechanical issues but later rejoined the rally. A very hard first day!

ALSO READ: Frosty challenge awaits WRC drivers at Rally Sweden

The first stage on day two and Rovanperä makes his intention very clear winning the first stage and regaining the lead, a position he would not relinquish.

Oliver Solberg in the third Hyundai Shell Mobis i20 N has struggled to find more pace and consistently loses time. Neuville was still struggling for traction and in stage 11 he overshot a turn and dropped 11 seconds, whereas Breen, after a few set-up changes, finally found form and won the stage.

The day was a fight between Rovanperä and Evans with Lappi and Neuville ready to pick up position if the two main protagonists should falter. On the penultimate stage of the day Craig Breen’s Puma came to a halt after just 2 km in, the engine would not restart and he uses the car’s electric power to move to a safer place, it’s all over for the day.

The young Finn was to take three more stage wins during the second day ending 8.3 seconds ahead of team mate Evans and 21.7 seconds clear of Neuville, the Belgian admitted he was unwilling to match Rovanperä’s bravery during the night speed tests.

Solberg dropped from 5th to 7^th due to a throttle issue on his i20N. Evans was extremely fortunate on the last stage of the day when he overshot the last square right of the stage, the Yaris blasting through a snow bank and finishing on a road parallel to the time control, a lucky escape, but one that would cost him dearly.

Sunday morning, the final day and sadly it was an end to another M-Sport Ford, as Adrien Fourmaux was forced to retire his Puma on the road section to the first stage of the day with apparent engine issues.

Rovanperä’s prospects of a third WRC victory were looking very strong with only four short stages to run and less pressure following the news that Evans had received a 10 second penalty for the previous evenings off road excursion on SS15.

The Welshman entered the stage 16 holding second spot overall, but very aware the penalty had dropped him within the reach of Neuville, so he had to push hard to hold his position.

Push hard he did, until a mistake led to him plunging into a snow bank and sustaining heavy damage to the front of the TGR Yaris, resulting in his heart breaking  retirement and handing second place to the Belgian.

Rovanperä drove the perfect rally taking victory by 22 seconds over Neuville in second place with Lappi 8.6 seconds further back, conditions proved to be a true test for the new hybrid Rally 1 cars, even Rovanperä finished without the hybrid system working.

With the next event on the calendar only in late April the factories will have some breathing space to resolve these initial problems, if problems they really are, as Rallye Sweden provides the harshest weather of the season with temperatures as low as -25 degrees centigrade.

The series takes an early-season break returning on April 21-24 for the Croatia Rally. The asphalt event is based in capital city Zagreb.

Results

1.         K.Rovanperä/J.Halttunen              Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Yaris

2.         T.Neuville/M.Wydaeghe                 Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT i20     

3.         E.Lappi/J.Ferm                    Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Yaris

4.         T.Katsuta/A.Johnston                     Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Yaris

5.         G. Greensmith/J.Andersson          M-Sport Ford WRT Puma

6          O.Solberg/E.Edmondson               Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT i20

7.         A. Mikkelsen/T.Eriksen                   Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo

8.         O.Veiby/S.Skjærmoen                     Volkswagen Polo GTI R5

9.         J. Huttunen/ M. Lukka                     Ford Fiesta WRC

10.       N.Gryazin/K.Aleksandrov               Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo

20.       O.Tanak/M.Jarveoja             Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT i20

36.       C.Breen/P.Nagle                              Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT i20

FIA World Rally Championship Drivers (after round 2 of 13)

1.         K.Rovanperä              46       

2.         T.Neuville                  32                                           

3.         S.Loeb                       27                   

4.         G.Greensmith           20                   

5.         S.Ogier                      19       

6.         T.Katsuta                   18                   

7.         C.Breen                     16

8.         E.Lappi                      15

9.         A.Mikkelsen              12

10.       O. Solberg                 8

11.       O. Tänak                     5

13.       E.Evans                       4

18.       A.Fourmaux                0

FIA World Rally Championship Manufacturers (after round 2 of 13)

1.         Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT    83              

2.         M-Sport Ford WRT                59      

3.         Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT     47

4.         Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT   22