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Sweden debrief: Part 1

Rally Sweden contained its usual share of thrills, spills and drama and we look back at the highlights of a captivating weekend at the torsby-based encounter.

Turning Point
Teemu Suninen knew fending off Ott Tänak in Saturday’s second leg would be no easy task after completing Friday’s opening day in Norway with a 2.0sec advantage.

Sure enough, Tänak was quickly out of the blocks in the opening Rämmen test and turned his deficit into a 1.8sec advantage. The killer blow for Suninen came in the following 23.40km Hagfors test.

He conceded almost 90sec and all hopes of a maiden WRC victory less than 1km from the finish when he buried his Ford Fiesta into a snowbank on a left corner. Tänak’s lead rose to 34.2sec and the Estonian was handed a lead he was never to lose.

One to Forget
What a difference three weeks makes. Last month Sébastien Ogier celebrated an emotional homecoming to Citroën with victory at Rallye Monte-Carlo.

Fast forward to February and the Frenchman was left to reflect on a 29th place finish, one position ahead of Junior WRC winner Tom Kristensson. There was no way back and nobody to help after he spun his C3 into the show in the second pass through the Svullrya test.

Quote of the Rally
We were back in 2007. Marcus Grönholm completed Friday morning’s opening Hof-Finnskog stage with the front grille of his Toyota Yaris stuffed with snow after a big spin.

Approached by journalists eager to find out what had happened, Grönholm offered a shake of the head, a wry smile and his trademark exclamation: “Oy, oy, oy!” That was all he needed to say – we knew it had been a lucky escape.

Save of the Rally
Stand up Thierry Neuville. The Belgian was fortunate to survive a massive 360° spin in Saturday’s Vargåsen stage with the loss of only a handful of seconds. Not only did he keep his Hyundai i20 out of the snow, but he knocked it down several gears while pirouetting and sped off in first gear when it stopped rotating. Watch a master at work below.

Zdroj: wrc.com