What happened to the Hyundais?
For the second World Rally Championship event in a row, Hyundai has struggled for outright pace in its battle against Toyota. Driver Thierry Neuville admitted he was running out of set up options to try as Hyundai explored radical changes to find answers to its lack of grip and speed at Rally Sweden. The Korean […]
Elfyn Evans reclaims lead as Oliver Solberg sets sights on podium
World Rally Championship title contender Elfyn Evans reclaimed the lead at Rally Sweden after delivering an impressive display through Saturday morning’s stages. The Toyota driver trailed his team-mate Takamoto Katsuta by 2.8s heading into the morning loop of snow stages, but exited the tricky tests with a 16.1s lead over his rival. Hyundai continued to […]
Takamoto Katsuta snatches lead from Elfyn Evans
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta delivered a string of fast times to snatch the Rally Sweden lead away from his World Rally Championship team-mate Elfyn Evans after an eventful Friday. Katsuta started the day sitting in third overall, but ended the leg of seven stages with a 2.8s margin over Evans. Sami Pajari, 22.2s back, locked out […]
Thierry Neuville labels WRC struggles the “hardest time of my career”
Thierry Neuville described his current World Rally Championship struggles as the ‘hardest time of his career so far’ following a difficult morning at Rally Sweden. The 2024 champion has been struggling for confidence behind the wheel of his Hyundai i20 N Rally 1 this season, with his struggles from last month’s opening round in Monte […]
Low snowfall throws up extra curveball for WRC crews at Rally Sweden
Rally Sweden is renowned for being one of the fastest on the World Rally Championship calendar, as crews thread their way through snowbank-lined stages. This year, that might not be the case, and they will have to be extra careful. Snow levels in the lead up to the event, held approximately 300km south of the […]
Oliver Solberg sets the pace to grab early lead
World Rally Championship points leader Oliver Solberg kicked off Rally Sweden in fine style by winning the opening stage to grab an early lead on Thursday night. The Monte Carlo winner, spurred on by his home crowd, kicked off the championship’s only dedicated snow rally by setting the benchmark in the 10.23km Umea super special […]
Oliver Solberg keeping feet on the ground ahead of “dream” WRC homecoming
Oliver Solberg says he is “taking everything rally-by-rally” and still has a lot to learn despite emerging as an early contender for this year’s World Rally Championship. Toyota’s new signing tops the championship standings after scoring a dominant victory in Monte Carlo last month. In doing so he has become the first Swede to lead […]
Esapekka Lappi thought his WRC career was over, but he’s back
Esapekka Lappi is surprised and excited to make his World Rally Championship return at Rally Sweden after admitting he thought his top-level rallying career was over. The two-time WRC event winner will rejoin Hyundai next week, which will mark the first round of a part-time programme. He previously contested a full-season programme with the Korean […]
Kalle Rovanpera co-driver Jonne Halttunen lands Toyota rally management role
Toyota has named Jonne Halttunen, former co-driver to Kalle Rovanpera, as project manager for the brand’s move into the American Rally Association (ARA) National Championship this year. The Japanese marque announced plans to contest the championship last year with its newly developed GR Corolla RC2 rally car, which will be piloted by Toyota’s World Rally […]