The Estonian of M-Sport Ford won Sunday's Rally Sweden, the second round of the WRC world rally championship, ahead of two Hyundais, after a breathtaking final. Ott Tänak beat Irishman Craig Breen and Belgian Thierry Neuville. The latter two gave themselves a mano a mano in the last special and, in spite of themselves, contravened the instructions given by the South Korean team.
Frenchman Cyril Abiteboul, new boss of Hyundai in the WRC and defector from Formula 1, wanted to see the Belgian finish ahead of the Irishman. The latter therefore clocked in with a delay of ten seconds at the start of the 18th and last special, which, theoretically, should ensure second place for Neuville. The Belgian will take part in all the events of the championship, unlike Breen, and it was therefore in Hyundai's interest to see Neuville score more points. The ace ! He hit a wall of snow in the last kilometers, losing precious seconds. Breen, who was unaware of his teammate's misadventures, beat him by a few seconds. "That wasn't the plan," the Irishman said, rather hilarious, upon arrival. Neuville preferred to salute "a good result for the team", without dwelling too much on his misadventure.
This is Tänak's 18th triumph in the WRC and his 2nd in Sweden. Crowned in 2019 for Toyota, the Estonian offers his first victory with M-Sport Ford, which he joined this season and which had not won a rally since the victory of Frenchman Sébastien Loeb in Monte-Carlo the last year. "It's a new car and the team has made a huge effort. I can show my rear lights (to my opponents) and that means they did a good job,” said the 35-year-old, still taciturn despite his victory. He played the regularity throughout the rally, winning only one scratch time but playing placed in all the others on snowy and tricky roads.
Sébastien Ogier, winner of the first rally of the season, the Monte-Carlo, was not in Sweden. Like last season, the eight-time WRC world champion is engaged in a partial program with Toyota. But he will be at the start of the next rally, in Mexico, from March 16 to 19. The loser of the day is the Toyota team, which cannot place a car on the podium after winning the Monte-Carlo with Ogier. The Finnish Kalle Rovanperä, reigning world champion, could not do better than 4th, ahead of his teammate, the Briton Elfyn Evans. In the championship, Tänak now has 41 points, ahead of Rovanperä (38) and Neuville (32).
