Even if he does not participate in all the races this season, Kalle Rovanperä is considered the big favorite for the Swedish rally, and the first special staged on Friday evening confirmed these predictions: on the night of Umea, the Finn achieved the best time of the SS1, 5.16 km long.
Rovanperä leads a trio of Toyotas. Before the seven special stages on Friday’s programme, he finds himself 1”4 ahead of Takamoto Katsuta and 2” over Elfyn Evans. Esapekka Lappi (Hyundai), fastest during the shakedown, ranked 7th, while Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) took 6th place.
Fourmaux’s good beginnings
Adrien Fourmaux, who was riding on snow for the first time in two years, had a good start. Second in the shakedown, the Frenchman from M-Sport finished in 4th place, 2”1 behind the leader and at the same time as Ott Tänak. The Estonian will have less pleasant memories of this SS1. “The driving was clean,” revealed the Hyundai driver at the finish. The only thing is that when I first braked, I got a little bit stuck on the other side of the belt, it hurt a little. » Rallying is an unforgiving sport.
