Onto the second day of action and Martins would return to the action in the Puma, meaning he’d open the road throughout the day, whilst Takamoto would be the final car from the top class to complete. Could his teammate Elfyn retake the lead?
First up then was SS9 Vännäs 1 and it was a great start for Elfyn to the day as he set the fastest time from Oliver and Sami. Takamoto was fourth and 7.2 slower meaning he’d dropped behind Elfyn by 4.4 seconds into second place. Interestingly Martins who opened the road set the best time of all three M-Sport crews. Meanwhile of those three, Jon was the best placed holding eighth position. Also, Oliver’s pace saw him move ahead of both Esapekka and Adrien and into fourth overall.
Onward then to SS10 Sarsjöliden 1 and it was a stage win for Martins in the Puma as all the leading crews came through and could not beat the Latvians time. Elfyn got the closest with a time just nine tenths of a second behind, whilst Oliver was third. It was a good stage for the M-Sport team as Josh was fifth and Jon seventh fastest with the same time as Adrien.
Oliver was fastest in SS11 Kolksele 1 by nine tenths over Elfyn whilst Sami was third and having a good start to the day and actually reducing the gap to Takamoto who was in second overall but now only 12.9 ahead of his teammate.
After the service break came SS12 Vännäs 2 and it was a stage win for Sami by 1.1 seconds over Esapekka, whilst Takamoto was a further 2.1 seconds and third fastest. Elfyn was keeping close though and was fourth and just seven tenths away meaning he maintained a 15.4 second lead over his teammate as they battled for the top spot.
It was a stage win for Elfyn is SS13 Sarsjöliden 2 from Takamoto by 2.6 seconds and Oliver third. Takamoto was not able to set the pace we saw on Friday and was just not comfortable to push as hard as he did. Meanwhile the best of the M-Sport crews was Jon who set the fifth best time putting his car ahead of two Hyundai’s. It was a good run for the Motor Irish Rally Academy supported driver.
Just two stages remained then for this second day and Sami was fastest in SS14 Kolksele 2 from Takamoto and Adrien. It was a great stage from the young Finn as Oliver was only seventh and saw the gap to third placed Sami grow to over thirty seconds.
The final stage of the day then, SS15 Umeå Sprint 2 and Takamoto was fastest from Oliver and Sami. Elfyn was sixth fastest and the gap was now just over 13 seconds between the two teammates as they battled for victory. Jon also had a great stage setting the fourth best time.
Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.
Classification after Day Two
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Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Elfyn Evans
“It’s been a good day for us overall. In the morning we were strong and that’s when we were able to make the biggest gains. This afternoon was a bit more mixed. It was much harder on tyres than we expected, but we still got through it cleanly. Tomorrow can still be quite a challenging day: the longer stage we do twice is a tough one and it’s been reversed for this year. The gaps are still small, so I’m sure it’s going to be a good fight.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“I can’t be so happy with how today went; I think it could have been much better. In the morning I was struggling with the grip and I’m not completely sure why, but we were losing a lot of time. The conditions are tough because it’s very cold, so in the afternoon we had to manage the tyres as well, but thankfully we didn’t lose so much time. I feel the car has been working well and when we had a good feeling, we had the pace. There’s still one day to go and I’ll definitely try my best.”
Sami Pajari
“I’m pretty satisfied with today and especially this afternoon when we could take a couple of stage wins. I have a really nice feeling with the car and I’m enjoying the driving in these proper winter rally conditions. Taka has also been pretty strong this afternoon, so he hasn’t been making it easy for us to try and close in. There’s still quite a lot of kilometres to go tomorrow and we just need to try and continue the same rhythm and keep pushing.”
Oliver Solberg
“This morning was great for us. The conditions were consistent, the feeling was good, and we could catch some time and some positions. This afternoon I think the road cleaning was playing a bigger part again. There was a lot of loose snow, and I struggled a bit with the rhythm and was sideways a lot. At least we could get up to fourth place today which I think was the realistic goal, as my team-mates are doing a great job in front, and I’ll keep doing my best tomorrow.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Esapekka Lappi
“Overall, I have to say it was a good day. We changed a lot overnight, and then we made some changes throughout the day, and when it started to feel a bit more natural, I decided not to touch the car. It felt good enough for what I wanted, and I just wanted to learn to drive a bit faster. Being the leading Hyundai is good enough for me at the moment, so let’s see where we finish tomorrow.”
Adrien Fourmaux
“I made quite a lot of changes on the car – this morning we made some adjustments to the dampers, and it really helped us this afternoon. It’s a shame we didn’t find this solution earlier, but it’s helped us gain some freedom in the setup to just go for it. Today was quite positive, which is encouraging for tomorrow; it’s still going to be a hard fight against the Toyotas, but we will go for it.”
Thierry Neuville
“The conditions were generally nice today – much more consistent – so everything was a bit easier than yesterday, giving us a bit more speed and letting us enjoy the stages a bit more. I pushed hard with the setup today – we tried lots of different adjustments. I forgot to send my wife flowers for Valentine’s Day, so I told her I would at least set a fastest time, so there was extra pressure today!”
Sunday
The final day then will see three stages and a total of 61km’s to bring this year’s edition of Rally Sweden to a close.
Can Elfyn hold on to take his third win in this iconic rally, or will Takamoto find the pace to pass his teammate and take his first victory?
We’ll find out tomorrow!
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