Kalle Rovanperä has become the third different leader in as many Rally Sweden stages as both Ott Tänak and erstwhile leader Esapekka Lappi fell backwards.
Tänak led the rally – the first time Hyundai has done so in 2022 – after the opening stage but was dumped back to third on SS2 as both the Toyotas of Lappi and Rovanperä crept ahead.
And the musical chairs at the top of the leaderboard continued on SS3 as this time road-sweeper Rovanperä hit the front with his first stage win of the weekend.
The battle has been tight throughout Friday morning, but Rovanperä’s lead is now up to a strong 10.4 seconds.
Rovanperä’s time was awesome but he was aided by two of his key rivals faltering.
Tänak lost the front bumper of his i20 N Rally1 and bled 11s to Rovanperä as a result, falling all the way down to fifth and 13.8s down on the lead as a consequence.
“Already before [this stage] we damaged [the bumper] and now it came off. It’s so fast and front is quite light so no aero,” he said.
But things were worse for Lappi who dropped 15s, sliding all the way from the lead to sixth place.
“I stalled on the start and it didn’t restart immediately so we lost something, but definitely also we didn’t lost 15 seconds that’s for sure,” said Lappi.
“I was just probably a bit too cautious, I tried to stay out the banks but it doesn’t work like that.”
Oliver Solberg is therefore in second place – the highest position he’s ever been on a round of the WRC – but could only manage the fourth-fastest time on SS3.
“It looks like being early looks good here,” Solberg, the last Rally1 driver onto the stage, said.
“I was too careful in places, yes, but I had good flow. But it doesn’t matter it’s fine I’m enjoying.”
Thierry Neuville was one of three drivers to receive a notional time on the previous stage after the test was red flagged for Craig Breen’s off into the snow.
Neuville dropped from third to sixth but his bigger concern was a reported “battery pack” issue he was carrying on the stage.
“I had to work very hard between the stages to get the car working so happy we are here,” he said at the end of SS3.
Quizzed specifically what the issue was, Neuville answered: “Something electrical.”
Neuville’s time on SS3 was handsome though – second fastest – as he beat Elfyn Evans, who just hasn’t quite been on the pace expected of him on Friday morning, by 3.8s.
“I don’t have great confidence in the car to be honest,” Evans explained, clearly subdued. “I’m struggling with the front end so it’s hard to commit, to be smooth.”
But Evans has stayed out of major trouble and that’s ultimately kept him in a strong position; up on the podium in third overall, 11.2s down on the lead and a second ahead of Neuville.
Just 3.6s separates Solberg in second and Lappi in sixth. Takamoto Katsuta is a lonely seventh, staying out of trouble but over half a minute down on the leader.
Gus Greensmith has had a frustrating morning in Sweden, suffering an overshoot on SS1 and not setting a time on SS2 due to being one of the drivers slowed by M-Sport team-mate Breen’s incident.
But SS3 was possibly the worst of the lot as he carried a gearbox issue on his Puma Rally1 and was without the use of his 100kW electric motor too. It led to him surmising his first three stages as a “s*** morning”.
Greensmith is at least ahead of team-mate Adrien Fourmaux though who has adopted a very careful approach in light of his recent string of costly accidents.
Fourmaux is 9.8s behind Greensmith but already over a minute down on the leader.
“I have to improve much more with my driving than my car, honestly I just try to keep the pace and not make mistakes,” he admitted.
“Every corner I’m like ‘it’s a little bit faster [here], it’s a little bit faster [there]’ but OK I’m still here and that’s the most important [thing]. I take the experience.”
Ole Christian Veiby – competing on his first WRC event since a six-month ban last year for breaching COVID-19 rules – has been in commanding form in WRC2, leading a star-studded pack in his Volkswagen Polo GTI R5.
M-Sport driver Jari Huttunen won the opening stage but Veiby hit the front on the second and extended his advantage on the third, holding the impressive Georg Linnamäe to an 11.8s deficit after the first morning.
Nikolay Gryazin lurks just a mere 0.2s behind Huttunen’s Ford Fiesta Rally2 in fourth in his Toksport Škoda, with team-mate and reigning WRC2 champion Andreas Mikkelsen another 1.7s further back.
Emil Lindholm had been in the fray after SS1 but put his Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo off the road and deep into a snowbank on the second test.
Due to Breen’s retirement earlier in the morning, Veiby – who has four-time World Rallycross and reigning Extreme E champion Johan Kristoffersson as his engineer – completes the overall top 10.
SS3 times
1 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota) 8m06.7s
2 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai) +0.7s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota) +4.5s
4 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Hyundai) +8.5s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota) +9.0s
6 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai) +11.0s
7 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (M-Sport Ford) +14.1s
8 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Toyota) +15.0s
9 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (M-Sport Ford) +18.0s
10 Ole Christian Veiby/Stig Rune Skjaermoen (Volkswagen) +31.8s
Leading positions after SS3
1 Rovanperä/Halttunen (Toyota) 29m23.3s
2 Solberg/Edmondson (Hyundai) +10.4s
3 Evans/Martin (Toyota) +11.2s
4 Neuville/Wydaeghe (Hyundai) +12.2s
5 Tänak/Järveoja (Hyundai) +13.8s
6 Lappi/Ferm (Toyota) + 14.0s
7 Katsuta/Johnston (Toyota) +32.7s
8 Greensmith/Andersson (M-Sport Ford) +55.2s
9 Fourmaux/Coria (M-Sport Ford) +1m05.0s
10 Veiby/Skjaermoen (Volkswagen) +1m29.8s
