Kalle Rovanpera wins a convincing victory in the Swedish WRC: F1LV Blog

The snowy Swedish WRC rally ended with the victory of Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Haltunen. Toyota’s Crew Noier from Hyundai and part-time Finn Esapeka Lapi from Toyota gave in to Toyota’s Finnish crew.

The World Rally Championship was its only snow and ice rally season. After a year’s break, the snow rally has returned to Sweden, but this time further north near the city of Umeå. The new roads turned out to be faster than ever and the amount of snow was happening with more volumes than we had ever seen in the Warmland area. The rally was not attended by the low-season Lebs and Ojie, who were also in the first two places in the overall standings.

Despite the first starting position and clearing the snow on the first day, Rovanpera took control of the rally at the beginning of the second day. The young Finn didn’t take a step wrong on the last day either, and the morning started again with the victory of the special stage. On the contrary, the day started for Elvin Evans, a member of Kalle’s team. The Welshman was the only one able to resist the victory, but a mistake was made and another snowstorm crashed at high speed. This time it was a withdrawal and Sweden was left with zero points. Only Neivill and Lapi, who have played only one rally in the top class since the 2020 season, continued to compete for the rest of the podium. The lack of experience made him feel, and the Finn was unable to get closer to his competitor in less than four seconds. Noivil, on the other hand, won the penultimate stage, further away from Lapi.

Trier Neuilly had a very strong rally

The final stage of the Powerstage was the main point of hope for several riders. After two unfinished days, Craig Brin of M-Sport, who won the Monte Carlo podium, scored his only point. However, Estonian Ots Tanaks remained unbeaten here in both the morning loop and Powerstage, winning five points. For the Hyundai driver, these are the first points of the season, as the withdrawal was also experienced in Monte Carlo. Rovanpera and Neiville, rally leaders, also scored four and three points, respectively, for the second and third time. As a result, Kalle Rovanpera won his third career victory 21 years after his father Hari Rovanpera won the Swedish WRC. The young Finn has also taken the lead in the overall standings, 14 points ahead of Trier Noville. Katsuta and Greensmith finished in the top five of the rally, which also allows Greensmith to climb to fourth place in the overall standings.

In the WRC class, the champion Andreas Mikelsen wins, and for the second time in a row, it gives the Norwegian the seventh place absolutely. The Skoda rider currently beats Solberg, Tanak, Evans and Furmo with ninth place in the overall standings (12 points), who have had a very bad start to the season. Ole Kristian Weibijs is second in the class, and Jari Hutunen closes the podium. Egons Kaurs from Estonia also finished in the absolute top ten.

Toyota has risen to the top of the list, but M-Sport still holds the top position over Hyundai, whose only Noivill has been able to successfully start the season. We will watch the continuation of the season from April 21 to 24 in Croatia, where for the second year in a row Rovanpera will try to defend the honor of the leader.

Results

Overall rating

Team test

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