Rally Sweden - 3rd Day - 2nd Loop: Tanak thwarts Breen's lead, snowbank strikes three top drivers

At the end of the afternoon loop of Saturday, Ott Tanak retakes the lead from Craig Breen at Rally Sweden with Thierry Neuville following him.

Ott Tanak stole the lead from Craig Breen at the end of Stage 14 as he was very consistent in these four stages despite the fact that his front left tyre was delaminated in SS14. This incident happened on the straight and thankfully it did not cost him. His gap from the leader Breen was at five tenths of a second after SS13.

The Irishman dropped to second place overall and will fight for the victory on Sunday as he is behind Tanak for 8,6 seconds. He got caught in a snowbank near the end of SS12 while his i20N carried a front left damage and he suffered from a front left puncture in Stage 13. Finally, he had a moment on the final stage of the day as he had a moment with a snowbank.

Thierry Neuville gained two places and is now third overall as he set the fastest time in three stages. 

Kalle Rovanpera follows the Belgian driver for 3,8 seconds despite the fact that he was the fastest driver in Stage 12. He had a spin in SS13 which cost him three seconds while he and Neuville share the third place at the end of SS14.

Elfyn Evans completes the top five after Esapekka Lappi's incident in Stage 13. Before this, he dropped to sixth overall after SS12 as he had two moments in this stage. More specifically, he hit a snowbank and had to reverse to get going again and afterwards he hit a snowbank twice with the rear of his Yaris after a corner, therefore he lost 19,4 seconds there. 

Pierre-Louis Loubet is now sixth overall and stayed out of trouble in the afternoon.

Esapekka Lappi dropped from third to eleventh overall at the end of SS13 as he gor stuck on the snow. A delaminated front right tyre caused him to spin on the last corner of SS13 and the spectators helped him to get going again. He completed the stage after seven minutes and was very close to claim his maiden stage win with Hyundai. On the opening stage of the loop, he followed the wrong line and had a lot of wheel spin while he was beaten by Neuville for 0,2 seconds in SS14.

Takamoto Katsuta is outside the top ten and was very lucky in Stage 14 as he collided with a snowbank after the start of the stage.

Watch below the stage times:

Watch below the overall classification after SS15:

Photo Credits: M-Sport