Rovanperä new WRC points leader after Rally Sweden win

Kalle Rovanperä has won Rally Sweden and now leads the championship by 14 points over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.

Rovanperä took the lead after the first stage on Saturday morning and did not give it away. In the end, the 21-year-old won the rally with a 22-second margin over Thierry Neuville who is now second in the championship standings. Esapekka Lappi completes the podium on his return at a factory team to the top level of rallying.

Elfyn Evans was in a close battle with Rovanperä all through Saturday but made a mistake in the final corner of Saturday’s final stage and went over a snowbank when crossing the finish line. Evans was penalised 10 seconds as he reached the Stop Control “where the parallel road merged with the defined roadway and the co-driver exited the car to receive their time.”

The Stewards said that “by entering the last corner at high speed, the crew gained a time advantage when crossing the flying finish, as the finish line was located just at the exit of that corner.”

Evans’ penalty meant that Rovanperä had an 18.3s advantage at the beginning of the final day. In the opening stage of the final day, Evans oversteered wide in a left-hand corner and hit the snowbank which damaged the radiator of his GR Yaris Rally1. The Welshman was forced to retire not much later and is now a massive 42 points behind Rovanperä in the championship after two rounds.

Tänak takes Power Stage win & Like father, like son

Ott Tänak set the fastest time in the Power Stage and received the five bonus points. Rovanperä clocked the second-fastest time in the final stage and therefore leaves Sweden with 29 points. Neuville, Katsuta and Breen were third, fourth and fifth respectively in the Power Stage.

Rovanperä took his third career rally win in Sweden and now has a 14-point lead heading into Rally Croatia. It’s Kalle Rovanperä’s first Rally Sweden win, 21 years after his dad, Harri Rovanperä won Rally Sweden.

As said earlier, Thierry Neuville moves up to second in the championship ahead of Sébastien Loeb who drops to third. M-Sport’s Gus Greensmith is now fourth in the championship with 20 points after his P5 finish in Sweden. The top 5 is completed by Sébastien Ogier who, like Loeb, didn’t compete this weekend. The top 10 championship standings are below.

Andreas Mikkelsen finishes seventh overall in Rally Sweden and makes it two out of two WRC2 this season. Finland’s Lauri Joona won the WRC3 category while Jon Armstrong claimed his third career JWRC victory with the Fiesta Rally 3.

Next up on the 2022 WRC calendar is Rally Croatia from April 21 to 24. In the meantime: Keep up-to-date with the latest news from the World Rally Championship via our website and social media channels:
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#	Drivers	Car	Time / Diff. to 1st
1.	Rovanperä / Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2:10:44.9
2.	Neuville / Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+22.0
3.	Lappi / Ferm	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+30.6
4.	Katsuta / Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+2:19.4
5.	Greensmith / Andersson	Ford Puma Rally1	+3:20.4
6.	Solberg / Edmondson	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+5:39.4
7.	Mikkelsen / Eriksen	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo	+7:11.1
8.	Veiby / Skjærmoen	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	+7:34.3
9.	Huttunen / Lukka	Ford Fiesta Rally2	+8:14.2
10.	Kaur / Simm	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	+8:24.8

#	Driver	Points
1.	Kalle Rovanperä	46
2.	Thierry Neuville	32
3.	Sébastien Loeb	27
4.	Gus Greensmith	20
5.	Sébastien Ogier	19
6.	Takamoto Katsuta	18
7.	Craig Breen	16
8.	Esapekka Lappi	15
9.	Andreas Mikkelsen	12
10.	Oliver Solberg	8

#	Manufacturer	Points
1.	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	83
2.	M-Sport Ford WRT	59
3.	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	47
4.	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT NG	22

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool