Time for the crews to head to the snow-covered roads of northern Sweden. The crews face eighteen stages and a total of 300.99km’s over the three days of competition. As championship leaders, Oliver and Elliott who won in Monte-Carlo will open the road throughout Friday’s stages. There is the added dimension that Friday will see the longest day of action with over 135km’s of stages giving the additional challenge for the Swede and Brit in the ninety-nine Yaris as the road-openers.
Elfyn and Scott are just four points behind their new teammates in the world championship standings and they come to this round as two-time winners. They will have a road position advantage over their teammates. Will they be able to make the best of the advantage they have? Well, there’s no doubt they have the experience and skills to do just that.
Let’s hear from the drivers.
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Oliver Solberg
“To go to my home rally leading the championship is something crazy that I couldn’t have dreamed of. It’s an amazing feeling, but I’m still taking everything rally-by-rally, with a lot to learn in each different event I go to with this car. Rally Sweden has always been my favourite rally of the year. It’s a great atmosphere with friends and family around. It also has my favourite conditions: it’s the most fun that you can have in a rally car. Starting first on the road in Sweden is maybe not always the best place to be, but it’s still something very cool for me. Maybe in some stages I can have an advantage, and others maybe not. I can only hope for good conditions, do my best, and drive as fast as I can.”
Elfyn Evans
“Rally Sweden is a unique event in the WRC calendar and one that’s usually a lot of fun to drive. Rallye Monte-Carlo was a solid start to the season for us and, as always, we’ll be aiming once again to challenge for victory in Sweden. A lot depends on exactly what the conditions are like. If we get freezing temperatures and good solid icy conditions, then it should be possible to challenge from our position early on the road, like we could in 2025. On the other hand, if there’s a lot of fresh snow to clean, it can be more difficult. We had some good preparation in very cold conditions at the Arctic Rally last week and if we could see something similar in Sweden, it will be a great event.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“I’m really looking forward to Rally Sweden. When I started my rally career with the TGR WRC Challenge Program in Finland, I did a lot of my early driving on snow and ice, so I feel comfortable in these conditions. The roads in Sweden also have a similar high-speed character, which I enjoy. Ever since the event moved to Umeå, we’ve always had very nice conditions there with a good snow and ice base. I’ve been competitive there in the last few years and have good confidence from that, so this year I will try to do a similar performance to last year, or even better: this is my target.”
Sami Pajari
“We had a disappointing start to the season at Rallye Monte-Carlo, but I’m looking forward to a better rally in Sweden. It’s one of my very favourite rallies. I’ve always liked driving in those conditions, which are obviously quite natural for a Finnish driver. When I was starting out in rallying, we drove half of the season in winter conditions, so it’s something I’m quite familiar with and normally a very enjoyable rally. I’ve seen that maybe the snowbanks could be smaller than in previous years, but hopefully we still get proper snow and ice conditions and can have a fun winter rally.”
Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)
“Rally Sweden is one of my favourite rallies. I’ve driven a lot of events on snow, including this one a few times previously, and the profile of the roads is similar to Finland, so it’s something a bit more familiar for me and I’m very excited. There are many special challenges: the difference in grip when you go off-line can be even bigger on snow than on gravel, and although you can use the snowbanks to push a bit harder, you also need to respect them. Again, we’re not registered for WRC2 points, but the plan is to push, have a good feeling and good pace.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Adrien Fourmaux
“Rally Sweden can be quite demanding – you need a lot of commitment across all of the stages. We need precision from our car so we can optimise our speed using the snowbanks without getting trapped in them. In recent years, it’s been more frozen with little fresh snow, so there should be fewer snowbanks, and I also expect grip will probably be worse than last year. You need a very well-balanced car that inspires confidence and commitment in every corner. Unlike Monte-Carlo, this is a pure performance rally all weekend, where it is important to take into account the weather conditions when setting up the car. We have a strong road position for this event, so the aim is to go all out for the win and close the gap in the manufacturers’ championship.”
Photographer: Romain Thuillier
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry Neuville
“Rally Sweden is generally a very consistent event, thanks to the snowy surface. As a team, we’ve always performed quite well there, and I won the event back in 2018. To replicate these results, we need a fast car and the right conditions. High snowbanks help us slow down on the roads, but also allow us to lean on them to avoid the ditches. For this to work, the car has to have an easy setup, good rotation, and has to work well with the studded tyres. If there’s fresh snow you need maximum protection, but on solid ice it’s all about a stiffer, more precise set-up. We’re going there targeting the win, but we know the challenge will be tough from Toyota. Last year we were in the fight for victory until the final day, so hopefully we can repeat that again this year.”
Esapekka Lappi
“I thought my WRC career was over, so I’m very surprised and excited to drive at the top level again with Hyundai Motorsport. My results in some of my most recent WRC events haven’t been very successful, so I’m aiming to change that this year and show commitment under every condition that I face. In 2024, the conditions on Friday night were very challenging, with heavy snowfall at night making visibility very limited, but we handled it well. Being Finnish, it’s not the most challenging rally for me, but the high speeds and lack of grip make it tricky. We will benefit if there is fresh snow, as the tyre lines of the cars in front will clear it, whereas if it is icy, it might get slower for the cars behind. We’ve carried out two winter events with a Rally2 car in Finland and a test day with the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 car on snow. Rally Sweden is Enni’s fourth outing in Rally1, our first together in a top-tier manufacturer entry, which makes this opportunity really special for both of us.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Josh McErlean
“Sweden is a rally I’m really looking forward to. The focus is now on bouncing back, keeping things consistent, and building momentum across the whole weekend. We showed a strong performance level here last year, and with the extra experience I’ve gained since then, the goal is to repeat that level and keep pushing forward. I’m focused and ready to get back to work with the team.”
Jon Armstrong
“I’m really looking forward to Rally Sweden. It’s the only full snow event on the calendar, so it’s always the ultimate playground for driving a rally car. Hopefully we can have something a bit more consistent in terms of conditions compared to the first round of the season. We’ve also got our test with the Puma coming up this weekend, which will be important preparation. I haven’t competed in Sweden since 2022, but I have great memories from the event – that was the year I won the Junior category. The stages have changed a bit since then, so there will be plenty of new notes to write during recce, but I’m really excited for the challenge ahead.”
Mārtiņš Sesks
“I’m happy to be starting my first event of the year with M-Sport, and I’m really curious to see how we’ll do on our second Rally Sweden. We want to use the experience we gained last year and apply it this time around. I’m really looking forward to being back with the team and the car, and hopefully we can target another good result and show a similar pace to what we had in Saudi.”
Romet Jürgenson
“It’s always exciting to go to Sweden and drive on snow and ice, especially with the big snowbanks. Going into the rally, we can already be more confident as we’ve competed in this event before. The key will be getting a good feeling with the car during testing, which will really allow us to push in these conditions, as the gaps are going to be very small, and performance is crucial here. That’s the aim – to go for it at this event.”
Mille Johansson
“I’m incredibly excited to step up to WRC2 – it’s a very big step in the right direction for my career. Now we have to work extremely hard to deliver results against the best drivers in the world, and that gives me a lot of motivation and determination.
“Expectations will naturally vary from event to event. At some rallies I want to make a real impact, while others will be more about gaining mileage and building experience with both the car and myself. Rally Sweden is really the event where I want to show good and consistent pace over the whole weekend and hopefully have a great debut in WRC2.”
Summary
Well, it’s exciting to see a few drivers return, with Martins and Renars returning for M-Sport Ford, plus Esapekka and Enni making their first start as a crew for Hyundai. The Finn won this rally for the team in 2024 with his old co-driver Janne and now makes a return to the top of the sport with the 2024 WRC2 co-driver champion Enni who joined him in competitive action last year as they competed in the Finnish championship.
All eyes will be on the Toyota crews who have had great success in this round ever since the manufacturer returned to the championship in 2017. The question is can Hyundai take their first win in Sweden since 2024 with Esapekka and former co-driver Janne?
Enjoy the action which gets underway with shakedown on Thursday morning, UK time 10 o’clock.
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