Fog, snowfall and poor grip: the racing conditions are a powerful poison for the drivers of the Swedish Rally at the start of the weekend. This Friday morning was marked by an avalanche of twists and turns which caused the loss of two favorites of the event: Ott Tänak (Hyundai) and Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) both threw in the towel during SS4 at the looks like a dangerous crevasse.
Rovanperä had ideally started the day by setting the scratch time for the second special, after dominating SS1 on Thursday evening. The reigning world champion did not describe extraordinary sensations, but everything was enough for him to outrun Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota), the only one to stick a little to him.
Except that the Finn was unable to finish the fourth special. Damaged at the rear, his car “unfortunately stopped” on the side of the road, as his team laconically indicated, and he will not be able to leave until Sunday. Tänak suffered the same fate after a spin which caused him to hit a wall of snow. Damaged radiator, the Estonian remained parked on the side of the road for a long time, and Adrien Fourmaux (M-Sport) almost hit him at full speed as he passed.
At the end of this massacre, Katsuta won SS4 to find himself quite well in the lead, with an 11”4 lead over Esapekka Lappi (Hyundai) in the general classification. Elfyn Evans follows in third position at 13”3, while Adrien Fourmaux, who had a consistent morning, takes 4th place (+18”7). Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) follows in 5th place (+40”5). Four stages are on the program for this Friday afternoon.
