At the end of Rally Sweden, Kalle Rovanpera claims his third win in his WRC career with Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi following him.
Kalle Rovanpera is the winner of the second round of this year's World Rally Championship and extended his advantage over his rivals today as he set the fastest time in Stage 14 despite the fact that he reported that the hybrid boost was not working in all morning stages. Finally, he was the second fastest driver in Powerstage and he scored four extra points for the driver's championship.
Thierry Neuville finished in second position overall after Elfyn Evans's retirement and he was the fastest driver in Stage 17 resulting in extending his gap from the third Esapekka Lappi. Their gap is at 8,6 seconds. Finally, he was the third fastest driver in Powerstage and took the three extra points from it.
Esapekka Lappi competes the podium and he fought hard with Neuville today, but he could not match the pace of the last one. This third place is a very promising start for the Finn driver's return in WRC.
Takamoto Katsuta finished fourth overall and his place was not under threat as his gap from the fifth Gus Greensmith was less than one minute. However, the Japanese driver did a mistake today as he stalled at the start line of Stage 15. He scored two points in Powerstage as he was the fourth fastest driver there.
Gus Greensmith completes the top five being the best M-Sport Ford driver for this event despite the problems he faced with his Puma throughout the weekend.
Oliver Solberg comes right behind and he offered valuable points to Hyundai after the problems the team faced with the i20N Rally1 car.
Ott Tanak finished outside the top ten and he was the fastest driver in the penultimate stage of Rally Sweden. Also, he set the fastest time in Powerstage, so he took five points from it.
Craig Breen finished outside the top twenty after the crash he had on Friday and the engine problem he faced on Saturday. He scored only one point in Powerstage as he was the fifth fastest driver there.
Elfyn Evans was forced to retire from Rally Sweden at the end of the first Sunday stage as he clouted a snow bank at high speed and did a major damage to hisToyota GR Yaris Rally1. After this contact, he pulled over his car, but he managed to get to the finish line of Stage 14 and afterwards he retired. He was in second position overall at the end of Saturday and was fighting for the win with his teammate, but their gap was increased as he received a 10-second time penalty later on Saturday, because he did not use the right road after the flying finish in Stage 13.
Adrien Fourmaux was forced to retire before the start of the first Sunday stage due to a continuation of technical problems he had since yesterday night.
Watch below the stage times:
Watch the overall classification after the end of the event:
Photo Credits: Toyota
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