Kalle Rovanperä has deposed Thierry Neuville of the Rally Sweden lead despite being beaten by both of his Toyota team-mates on Saturday’s opening stage as the top four is now split by just 3.2 seconds.
The leading four cars were covered by 8.8s at the start of Saturday after a pulsating fight on Friday that involved as many as six cars for much of the day.
But it was left to Neuville to uphold Hyundai honor – as his team-mates drifted out of the battle towards the end of the day – fighting against all three works Toyotas.
Neuville lost out on SS8 Brattby, sliding from the lead to second place – 0.7s behind Rovanperä – as he was only good for the sixth fastest time.
“I didn’t find a lot of grip to be honest,” said Neuville. “But at the end we are here, it’s a tricky stage anything can happen. We try to find our rhythm and go on.”
Elfyn Evans was the quickest driver on the stage, 0.4s faster than Esapekka Lappi, to close in to just 1.7s behind new leader Rovanperä.
Evans felt his run was a “little bit scrappy in places and then a little bit careful in others” while Rovanperä was equally unsatisfied with what he had managed to achieve.
“A lot of the lines are already quite messy because everyone’s touching the banks on the inside and outside,” he said, running as second-last car onto the stages on Saturday instead of first like he was on Friday.
“Maybe not the best stage for me as I could’ve been cleaner, but not such a bad stage either.”
Lappi completes the leading quartet, 1.8s behind Evans but his feeling with his car is improving.
“The first half went well, I was pretty much on the limit and then I don’t know what happened in the second half, I was braking too early,” he said after going second fastest through SS8.
“But the feeling is good, now the feeling is good.”
Takamoto Katsuta set an impressive pace on SS8 as he was fourth fastest in a Toyota lockout of the top four.
It drew praise from Oliver Solberg – now a bit of a bystander in the lead battle – who admitted “that must’ve been a big attack” but the Hyundai driver equally felt he was “too careful” in places, struggling to find a rhythm.
M-Sport team-mates Adrien Fourmaux and Gus Greensmith are glued together in the bottom half of the top 10 – much like they used to be in 2021 with Fiesta WRCs.
Now in Puma Rally1s, Fourmaux holds Greensmith to a 7.7s deficit in seventh place but lost 7.5s on SS8 alone – feeling he needs to loosen up a bit behind the wheel.
“I wasn’t really driving well, I was a little bit tense so I need to relax for the next stage,” Fourmaux said.
We need to learn a lot about the carCraig Breen, M-Sport Ford
Greensmith – whose rally has become compromised by running a new differential with an unfamiliar set-up – has targeted his team-mate but is more focused on improving his driving and feeling with his Puma’s new configuration.
Friday’s two retirees, Craig Breen and Ott Tänak, both restarted on Saturday and were the first two cars on the road due to not completing the first day.
Breen – who went off into a snowbank on the second stage – took a reserved approach to SS8, feeling he just needed to “get some mileage really”.
“I had a very short test and I made a very short first day of the rally all by myself, so we need to learn a lot about the car.”
Tänak had been one of several drivers in the fight for the lead on Friday but was ejected, when just 1.1s down on then leader Evans, due to the hybrid unit in his Hyundai becoming unsafe.
The 2019 world champion was fifth fastest on SS8 with Breen seventh fastest, 6.1s slower than Tänak but still the fastest M-Sport Ford on the stage.
SS8 times
1 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota) 6m21.2s
2 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Toyota) +0.4s
3 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota) +1.7s
4 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota) +2.3s
5 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai) +2.6s
6 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai) +6.7s
7 Craig Breen/Paul Nagle (M-Sport Ford) +8.7s
8 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Hyundai) +10.2s
9 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (M-Sport Ford) +13.1s
10 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (M-Sport Ford) +20.6s
Leading positions after SS8
1 Rovanperä/Halttunen (Toyota) 1h08m58.4s
2 Neuville/Wydaeghe (Hyundai) +0.7s
3 Evans/Martin (Toyota) +1.4s
4 Lappi/Ferm (Toyota) +3.2s
5 Solberg/Edmondson (Hyundai) +32.3s
6 Katsuta/Johnston (Toyota) +1m15.2s
7 Fourmaux/Coria (M-Sport Ford) +1m47.5s
8 Greensmith/Andersson (M-Sport Ford) +1m55.2s
9 Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen (Škoda) +3m25.4s
10 Ole Christian Veiby/Stig Rune Skjaermoen (Volkswagen) +3m30.1s
