Nothing’s normal at the moment. When the World Rally Championship departed Rally México three months ago, who’d have thought the next time rally cars would have seen the light of a competitive day, it would’ve been back in Torsby? The odds would have been fairly long.
But Sunday took a handful of drivers back to the scene of round two and a stage made famous as a normally snowy powerstage. Rally Sweden Lockdown was born out of the coronavirus and the subsequent absence of sport.
Watching rally cars pressing on down the road adjacent to the runway at Torsby airport was odd. Early summer drizzle put coats on backs, but otherwise it was just plain strange to see competition on that stage at this time of the year.
Here’s evidence of a great Sunday of sport:
Two-time Junior World Rally Champion P-G Andersson has competed infrequently in recent years – his was a welcome but…
Credit: Tony Welam
…brief return after he rolled heavily in the qualification stages
Credit: Martin Safstrom
Swedish broadcaster SVT offered exceptional coverage of Rally Sweden Lockdown
Credit: Tony Welam
Top-10 finisher at last year’s Rally Portugal Emil Bergkvist finished third in a Škoda he shared with Mattias Ekström
Credit: Tony Welam
Ekström, like everybody, found the Torsby Sprint stage increasingly tricky as the day progressed
Credit: Tony Welam
2016 World Rallycross Champion Ekström had hoped to tackle this year’s Swedish Rally Championship before coronavirus intervened
Credit: Tony Welam
Summer sun gave way to rain, which meant standing water in some places
Credit: Tony Welam
Cousins and rivals: Pontus Tidemand and Oliver Solberg went head-to-head in the final
Credit: Tony Welam
Oliver has clearly learned a thing or two from his father about celebrating a win…
Credit: Tony Welam
Oliver explained his thoughts on victory and those celebrations to the 2003 World Rally Champion
Credit: Tony Welam
Mother and son flew the Polo R5 to a first win together on Sunday
Credit: Tony Welam
After three months of silence, Oliver and Pernilla were happy to hear engines running again last weekend
Credit: Tony Welam
Tidemand missed the win by 1.1s after an impressive performance in his Škoda
Credit: Tony Welam
Jonna Brådhe Eson guided her Mitsubishi Mirage to fifth place
Credit: Tony Welam
