Hyundai kicked Thierry Neuville’s team three times ahead of Craig Breen by order of the team.
of M-Sport Ott Tänak has won the Swedish World Rally Championship. The Estonian driver was at the top of the rally going into Sunday, and did not give up his position.
Before the final cut, Hyundai raised by Thierry Neuville with a stable order by Craig Breen past. The Irishman deliberately took a ten-second time penalty. However, Neuville made a mistake on the Power Stage and Breen moved back past Neuville for second overall.
Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä was fourth in the rally. He lost the fight for a podium place in Sunday’s second special stage when he finished six seconds behind Neuville.
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans was fifth. Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi ran seventh, but may rise to sixth. Pierre-Louis Loubet crawled to the finish line of the special test with a broken car. The Frenchman still has to make it to the service park.
Lappi won the Power Stage. Evans was second fastest and Kalle Rovanperä third. Tänak got the fourth highest score.
Tänak rose to the top of the World Series. He will pave the way for the next round of the World Series in Mexico.
Tänak joined Hannu Mikkola and Jari-Matti Latvala
M-Sport’s previous victory at the World Championship level came more than a year ago in Monte Carlo, when it drove to victory Sebastien Loeb. The last time Tänak has won the World Rally Championship in the ranks of M-Sport was in the 2017 season, when he drove first in Catalonia.
Tänak has now won 18 World Cup rallies during his career. He rose to share tenth place in the all-time victory statistics together with the rally legend Hannu Mikkolan and Toyota team boss Jari-Matti Latvala with.
Tänak also won Sweden on snow in his world championship season in 2019. Tänak enjoys the snow: in 2021, he celebrated victory in the World Rally Championship in Rovaniemi.
The special tire problems became the talk of the rally
Even today’s victory did not come easy, because he suffered a flat tire on Saturday, due to which the Estonian was close to driving the project. The Estonian blamed the tire manufacturer Pirelli.
The tires became the talk of the rally, because before Tänak the surface of the tires had disintegrated under Breen and Lapi. Lapland’s race was ruined by a flat tire and the subsequent spin, as he lost more than seven minutes in the process.
Pirelli did not take responsibility for broken tires. A tire supplier told the rally site DirtFish that the tire pressures set by the drivers were not at their recommended level (you switch to another service). The World Championship rally teams, on the other hand require an explanation from Pirelli (you switch to another service)so that similar tire problems would no longer be seen.
For Sami Pajar, the first podium place in his career
The WRC2 class saw a happy Finnish success when Sami Pajari took the first podium place of his career in his fifth rally with a Rally2 car. He finished third by Oliver Solberg and Ole Christian Veibyn double cloth.
– Absolutely wonderful feeling! We had a chance to get on the podium already last year. I am grateful to everyone who has made this possible, a satisfied Pajari said at the finish line in an interview with WRC.