RALLY SWEDEN: NEUVILLE TAKES THE WIN

Thierry Neuville has won Rally Sweden to become the only non-nordic driver to win Rally Sweden and takes a commanding lead heading into Mexico. The Belgian has been leading for most of the Rally and won by about twenty seconds. In second is Craig Breen for Citroen, claiming his best result in his WRC career. Rounding out the podium is a warm welcome back to the top 3, Andreas Mikkelsen, who was never far behind his team-mate. Hayden Paddon and Esapekka Lappi had a mighty duel on Saturday and Sunday, but in the end it came down to the power stage and

Sebastian Ogier struggled due to the fact that he was always the first onto the stage, so he cleared the snow for everyone else. This impacted his chances heavily, only managing to finish 10th place.

SS1/SS2: In SS1 & SS2 Ott Tänak started off superbly, winning the first two stages and creating a seven second lead to Andreas Mikkelsen. Thierry Neuville was fourth fastest and fourth overall in his i20 but the Belgian admitted conditions were tricky. “I didn’t have a perfect stage. In places there was more grip and suddenly you lose it. Not a perfect stage for visibility, I was looking for the road a lot,” he said.

Toyota duo Esapekka Lappi and Jari-Matti Latvala were fifth and sixth, their positions reversed in the overall standings. Lappi’s disappointment was evident as he threw his driving gloves down at the finish, while Latvala struggled for confidence in the loose snow.

Ogier was 10th and resigned to his fate as road opener. “It was difficult, especially as there was no snow plough in the stage. It’s very tricky and I had a couple of moments already,” said the Ford Fiesta driver.

SS3/SS4: Hyundai team-mates Thierry Neuville and Andreas Mikkelsen topped the Rally Sweden leaderboard after a snowy few stages. Fastest time in Norway’s Svullrya special stage and second in the following Röjden test propelled Neuville into a 3.7sec lead over his Hyundai i20 colleague as competitors returned to Torsby for service.

Despite suffering with a cold, Neuville took advantage of better conditions created by the early starters, who lost time after ploughing heavy snow.

The man of the match

The man of the match

“The road is getting better and better with each car and I tried to use my advantage,” explained the Belgian. “With our road position we knew we could be faster than the guys ahead, but we didn’t expect to be faster than the guys behind.” Mikkelsen, who swapped seats with co-driver Anders Jaeger back to service to review onboard camera footage of the loop, took no risks and was 1.6sec ahead of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Esapekka Lappi. Hayden Paddon was eighth, the Kiwi struggling to turn into corners with understeer in his i20, ahead of Teemu Suninen’s Ford Fiesta and Kris Meeke’s C3.

SS5/SS6: Thierry Neuville fended of Andreas Mikkelsen to hold onto a slender lead on Friday afternoon. The margin between the duelling Hyundai i20 duo was a single second as they slid through a repeat of this morning’s speed tests in Norway, where conditions were even more difficult than earlier.

Neuville had to be content with sixth fastest in Hof-Finnskog and fifth in the following Svullrya as his Norwegian colleague closed the gap, despite a scare for Mikkelsen towards the end of the latter stage. Road opener Sébastien Ogier described the conditions as ‘a joke’ as he dropped more than a minute in his Ford Fiesta, while Ott Tänak conceded almost 50sec and was down to ninth in the standings. Hayden Paddon won SS5 to move upto 5th place.

SS7/SS8: Charges from Craig Breen and Hayden Paddon completely changed the leaderboard as Friday came to an end. The Citroen driver won SS7 whilst the Kimi won SS8, promoting themselves to fourth and third respectively. This meant it was a Hyundai 1-2-3. Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Ott Tänak suffered badly from their start position and were eighth and ninth, with Kris Meeke completing the top 10.

That's a sign!

That's a sign!

A despondent Sebastien Ogier fared worst of all. The championship leader opened the road and conceded almost three minutes en route to 12th.

SS9: Disaster! Thierry Neuville had trouble with his gearbox on Stage 9. Neuville was fifth through the Torntorp test, and actually extended his lead over team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen by 0.3sec, but the Belgian’s frustration was clear at the finish as TV pictures showed him reverting to the manual system.

“It was OK. We have to go now, no issues,” he said, before driving away from the finish and punching his steering wheel. Neuville stopped briefly on the liaison section and must tackle two more stages before service.

Mikkelsen had a clean run but his Hyundai Shell Mobis squad’s overnight 1-2-3 was interrupted when second fastest time for Craig Breen promoted the Irishman into third ahead of Hayden Paddon. “The notes are a little bit slow in a couple of places but I have a really awesome feeling in the car. We’ll keep on throwing the kitchen sink at it and see what happens!” Breen said.

Paddon dropped 5.3sec behind Breen’s Citroën C3 but extended his advantage over Mads Østberg’s similar car by 2.0sec as their three-way fight for third raged on.

SS10/SS11: Ott Tänak continued his charge by wining S10 and finishing second in SS11. This promoted him to a dismal eighth. Neuville firstly fixed the problem with his Hyundai i20’s automatic paddle shift gearchange which hampered him in the opening Torntorp test. He then spun in the Hagfors stage before steadying the ship with fastest time in Vargåsen.

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The relieved Belgian returned to service in Torsby with a 5.9sec lead over Craig Breen, the biggest advantage he has held since taking the lead yesterday morning. Sure enough, Mikkelsen had spun at the same place two minutes earlier. “I maybe lost 15sec. I touched the bank a bit, the car twisted around and I had to reverse,” said the Norwegian, who plunged from second to fourth, before climbing back to third in Vargåsen.

He trailed Breen by 11.7sec, the Irishman enjoying a clean morning in his Citroën C3 to be the only interloper in a top four dominated by Hyundai.

Hayden Paddon completed the leading quartet, 1.6sec adrift of Mikkelsen and looking forward to the afternoon’s repeat pass of the stages. “I struggled to find the line between overdriving and under-driving. We knew we would struggle this morning because the car is set-up too aggressively, but it will be better this afternoon. We had to be patient and we’ll try to close up this afternoon,” said Paddon.

SS12/SS13: Rally leader Thierry Neuville increased his lead between himself and his rivals on Saturday afternoon. After spending almost two days fending off his challengers by no more than a handful of seconds, the Belgian delivered a stunning drive on the gravelly roads of the Hagfors speed test to stretch his advantage to 14.0sec over Craig Breen. The Hyundai i20 driver completed the 23.40km stage 6.6sec faster than team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen, and nearly 10sec up on Breen.

While most drivers opted to carry two spare wheels, Breen gambled on saving weight by choosing one and the vast amount of gravel did him no favours. He had a 12.8sec advantage over Mikkelsen in third, with Paddon hard on his heels and just 3.5sec behind. There was plenty of drama further down the order for Kris Meeke and Ott Tänak after the Briton’s C3 dived into the snow early in the stage.

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SS14/SS15/SS16: Thierry Neuville increased his lead going into Sunday. By winning SS14 and doing well in SS15, the Belgian increased his lead to twenty seconds over Craig Breen, who is holding on for his career-best finish in second place. The Belgian soaked up intense pressure for almost two days to protect a lead that never rose above a handful of seconds, before attacking himself to open a 22.7sec advantage with tomorrow’s short leg remaining. He fended off Craig Breen, eager to claim a maiden WRC victory, and team-mates Andreas Mikkelsen and Hayden Paddon before trebling his lead with a stunning performance to win the gravelly 23.40km Hagfors speed test this afternoon.

SS17/SS18: Sunday. Esapekki Lappi is on a charge as the Finn set his sights on Hayden Paddon's fourth place. The Toyota Yaris driver was second through the 21.19km test to demote Mads Østberg from fifth and close to within just 7.4sec of Paddon. And all that was achieved with a performance Lappi himself was not happy with. Neither Paddon nor Østberg were happy with their efforts, which netted eighth and 10th fastest times.

Stage 18, the penultimate stage. Lappi wins again with Neuville right on his heels. This time though Hayden Paddon was just four and a half seconds behind, his lead down to 2.9 seconds. What a power stage this is going to be! Craig Breen finished third to extend his lead to Norweigan Andreas Mikkelsen, who will have to settle for a great third place.

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SS19 - POWER STAGE: In the power stage, drivers lower down like Tänak and Ogier were looking to gain some valuable points. Tänak managed to hold out drivers like his team-mate Latvala, however Lappi...was...FLYING. He was 5.2 seconds faster than Tänak, game on for Paddon. Then Paddon went. He was 1.7 seconds up on the first split, the same as Tänak, but slow then Paddon. But it's not enough, Lappi takes fourth. Andreas Mikkelsen came in 2 seconds behind Lappi, then Breen wasn't able to beat Lappi and came in fifth. Neuville came in third

FINAL STANDINGS OF 2018 RALLY SWEDEN

1. Thierry Neuville

2. Craig Breen

3. Andreas Mikkelsen

4. Esapekka Lappi

5. Hayden Paddon

6. Mads Østberg

7. Jari-Matti Latvala

8. Teenu Sunninen

9. Ott Tänak

10. Sebastian Ogier

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (2/14) -

1. Thierry Neuville - 42

2. Sebastian Ogier - 26

3. Jari-Matti Latvala - 24

4. Esapekka Lappi - 23

5. Ott Tänak - 22

6. Andreas Mikkelsen - 22

7. Craig Breen - 20

8. Kris Meeke - 17

9. Hayden Paddon - 10

10. Elfyn Evans - 8