Conditions at this year’s Rally Sweden have been described as “perfect” by several World Rally Championship drivers.
Since the WRC’s snow and ice round moved north from Torsby to Umeå in 2022 in search of more consistent, wintry conditions, a lack of snow has never been a problem for Rally Sweden.
But the conditions in 2025 “can’t be any better than it is now” according to former WRC driver Per-Gunnar Andersson, with a solid ice base and strong snowbanks present on recce, and set to remain with temperatures during the rally forecast to be well below zero.
“It’s perfect,” Toyota driver Takamoto Katsuta told DirtFish.
“[There’s] a lot of big snowbanks and a nice ice base, so it’s good.”
Two-time Rally Sweden winner Ott Tänak is similarly excited, describing the stages as “definitely close to perfect” – with a nod of agreement from co-driver Martin Järveoja.
“Saturday looks more or less like an ice track; Friday maybe a bit more gravel or snow coming out but altogether it looks really nice, yeah.”
A strong ice base is good news for those running further up the running order like Elfyn Evans and Adrien Fourmaux, as the grip should be more consistent between all the cars.
But Fourmaux isn’t so sure running second will be best for him on Friday’s leg because of the conditions team-mate Tänak mentioned.
Asked if he could pick his road position, the Hyundai driver told DirtFish: “First on the road on Saturday, and then last on the road on Friday.
“Well, maybe not last-last,” he continued, “as then we might see some gravel already, but first two stages are quite snowy and there’s not so much ice. The third yes it’s full ice, but then on Saturday it’s ice everywhere – it’s perfect conditions.
“But you know in the past always starting later in Sweden is the best… but we do our best.”
World champion Thierry Neuville isn’t so confident, though. He starts fifth on Friday.
“I was hoping for a bit more snow during the weekend,” Neuville told DirtFish, “but overall I think we can have a good weekend from where we are starting.
“Just need to keep it smooth and on the road.”
