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Rally rewind: Sweden 2018

Belgium's Thierry Neuville kept his cool in the heat of a furious fight to win last year's Rally Sweden and seize the championship lead.

Here's how he did it:
 
Friday 
Neuville headed a Hyundai 1-2-3, fending off Andreas Mikkelsen by 4.9sec while Hayden Paddon surged up the order to claim third, 12.1sec off the lead. 
 
Sixth after Thursday's super special, Neuville moved his i20 to the front on SS3, while early starters lost time ploughing through fresh snow. Craig Breen ended fourth, winning two stages in his Citroën C3, with Mads Østberg just 0.6sec behind in fifth and Teemu Suninen sixth. 

Jari-Matti Latvala, Ott Tänak and Sébastien Ogier suffered badly from their start positions. Road opener Ogier conceded the most, losing almost three minutes en route to 12th.

Saturday
Neuville broke clear of the pack, opening a 22.7sec advantage over a hard charging Breen. A glitch with Neuville's gearchange and a spin threatened to derail him in the morning, but Mikkelsen, his closest challenger at the time, pirouetted at the same place. 
 
Mikkelsen dropped to fourth and although he regained third from Paddon, he could do nothing to reel in Breen and trailed him by 9.3sec. Paddon's car set-up was unsuited to the forest roads and he ended 16.6sec behind Mikkelsen. 
 
Ott Tänak won three stages but was involved in a collision with Kris Meeke which cost him two minutes and ended with the Briton's retirement.

Sunday
Neuville kept calm to win by 19.8sec. Breen held off Mikkelsen by 8.5sec for second place and his best WRC result to date. 
 
Lappi fought back from losing time in a snow bank early in the event. He gained two places to finish fourth, 17.5sec adrift of Mikkelsen. A final stage mistake from Paddon made life easier for Lappi. The Kiwi stalled his i20 and trailed the Finn by 8.6sec. 
 
Østberg was sixth while Tänak and Ogier were unable to regain lost ground and finished ninth and 10th.

Zdroj: wrc.com