Listen to how ‘s expert Henri Haapamäki packed Friday’s driving day.
The top three of the Swedish World Rally Championship is on Friday evening Esapekka Lappi, Takamoto Katsuta and Oliver Solberg.
Yes, Solberg, driving Skoda’s rally2 car, is third overall in the WRC class. Lappi drove the most confident of the rally1 drivers through Friday’s special tests, but many others had difficulties in the extremely challenging conditions.
There are no less than six rally2 drivers in the top ten. Sixth overall Georg Linnamäe even scheduled a special exam preparation time on EK 5 to start the evening.
1. Esapekka Lappi Hyundai 58.18,8
2. Takamoto Katsuta Toyota + 3.2
3. Oliver Solberg Skoda + 1.20,7 rally2 4. Adrien Fourmaux Ford + 1.26,3
5. Elfyn Evans Toyota + 1.50,0
6. Georg Linnamäe Toyota + 1.50,1 rally2
7. Sami Pajari Toyota + 2.05,8 rally2
8. Mikko Heikkilä Toyota + 2.19,0 rally2
9. Roope Korhonen Toyota + 2.33,6 rally2
10. Lauri Joona Skoda + 2.45,7 rally2
11. Thierry Neuville Hyundai + 2.46,0
The superstars of the rally series Kalle Rovanperä and Ott Tänak had to stop at the end of the morning, the longest special stage of the rally, due to driving mistakes. Leading the World Series Thierry Neuville has shined on the results list, because he suffered in the snow during his plowing role for most of the day.
The longest special stage of the rally is again a watershed
Friday morning started as expected, when Neuville and Elfyn Evans you will be the first cars to leave top speed. Rovanperä and Lappi forged the bottom times for the first two special tests, but the specials started on EK 4.
Both Rovanperä and Tänak made driving mistakes and had to be stopped.
– We turned 360 degrees. It happened the same way at Tänaki. I went a little wide and the car hit the embankment. The radiator broke and we also experienced a flat tire, Rovanperä revealed about his suspension in an interview with RallyTV.
Rovanperä revealed that many drivers had hit the bench at the same point. ‘s expert Henri Haapamäki assesses the damage to Rovanperä’s car after the crash.
– There appears to be reddish coolant on the front bumper. It’s not a big outing, but you can’t continue the journey, otherwise the engine will overheat and break down, commented Haapamäki.
The special test also saw a wild dangerous situation, when a Ford driver Adrien Fourmaux was about to crash into the rear of Tänak’s Hyundai, which was moving slowly at a really high speed.
Even a Ford driver in humid subzero weather Gregoire Munster was in trouble on the stage and suffered a flat tire after the bench crash. As a result of a fierce special test, the battle for the top went completely new at the end of the morning. Takamoto Katsuta took the lead of the rally.
The circumstances explain the dismal results list
As the day progressed, the conditions worsened even more. In practice, every driver complained about weak grip since morning. It started snowing during the day and reduced the visibility on the route. The rally1 cars, which were the first to go to the special tests, suffered from their starting positions.
The rally2 cars that drove later went to the roads plowed by top-class drivers.
– The conditions for Rally1 cars have been so bad that those driving Rally2 cars have had a huge advantage from their starting position. Something similar has been seen, for example, in slippery general special tests, where you can’t take full advantage of the better power, suspension and aerodynamics of top-class cars, Haapamäki summed up in the evening.
The situation became concrete when Linnamäe raced the bottom time with a fast EK 5. Solberg was the second fastest in the special test. Lappi was embarrassingly the best rally 1 car, only the sixth fastest.
Neuville, who sank far from the top fight during the day, fell further on the results list when he couldn’t get his car started before the sixth special test. He couldn’t start on time and received a 40-second time penalty.
At the same time, Evans was the first car to enter the last three special tests of the day. This gave rise to the question whether Neuville tacticed a worse starting place for Evans, so that the British driver would fall on the results list and have to start the route from a worse starting place on Saturday.
Neuville himself denied the tactics and said that it was a technical fault that bothered the transitions until the evening.
– It would be quite risky to take a time penalty with the expectation that the gap could be closed. It is true that Neuville has undeniably suffered from his role, Haapamäki assessed in the evening.
In addition to outcasts, strange results and tactical speculations, there were wholesale near miss situations on Friday. Evans, Katsuta and, for example, Solberg also hit the benches in turn.
Esapekka Lappi ended the day convincingly when she set the bottom times for the last three special tests.
– Especially in the evening, we used the advantage we got from the starting point as we should have, Lappi summed up at the end of the day.