Toyota dominates Friday's podium at Rally Sweden with Katsuta leading by 2.8 seconds

Takamoto Katsuta arrived first to Friday's parc fermé at Rally Sweden with a 2.8-second advantage over Elfyn Evans. The two Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 cars are fighting for the rally lead with Sami Pajari in third place, consolidating the Japanese team's 1-2-3. Esapekka Lappi was fourth, 45.9 seconds behind, as the highest-placed Hyundai driver.

Katsuta recovered the 14.5 seconds Evans had pulled out on him in the morning when conditions became tricky for those opening the road. The Japanese driver ran fifth in the starting order and took advantage of Evans having to clean the lines from second position, facing broken ice and deeper ruts on the second pass through the stages.

Evans controlled the rally by Friday midday after winning two stages in the morning. The roads showed good grip for the road-openers, but the second pass revealed the problem: the lines narrowed, the ice broke into sections, and traction decreased for the first cars. Katsuta won two stages during that complicated afternoon, took the lead by one-tenth of a second in SS7, and extended his margin to 2.8 seconds in the Umeå night sprint.

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"We knew the afternoon would be more difficult for those running at the front, so I tried to be patient in the morning and in the afternoon we were able to recover and take the lead," Katsuta explained after completing 124.88 competitive kilometers. "It was quite tricky in terms of tire wear, but I think we did a good job managing that and finding the right places to push."

Evans acknowledged that the changing conditions favored those running further back in the order. "Inevitably the road was going to evolve this afternoon and become faster for those running behind us, but we did what we could. It wasn't enough to keep the lead tonight, but there's still a long way to go. Taka is always very strong on this rally and it will be good to fight with him tomorrow. Our starting positions will be more equal and that should keep it interesting."

Solberg learns costly lesson opening the road

Oliver Solberg arrived on Friday as championship leader and first in the starting order, a responsibility he had never faced in his Rally1 career. The Swede lost 30 seconds in SS3 Andersvattnet when his GR Yaris Rally1 suddenly lost grip, ran off the road into a snowbank, and damaged a tire. "I completely underestimated how difficult it would be to be first on the road," admitted Solberg. "There was snow everywhere."

He recovered ground in the afternoon by improving his starting position but finished Friday in sixth place, 51.0 seconds from the top spot. The Swede won a stage in the morning before his off, demonstrating speed when conditions allowed. He maintains a four-point advantage over Evans in the championship heading into a Saturday with 104.42 competitive kilometers.

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Lappi leads Hyundai in fourth place

Sami Pajari completed the Toyota 1-2-3 in third place, 22.2 seconds behind Katsuta and 23.7 seconds ahead of Esapekka Lappi, who leads Hyundai in fourth place, 45.9 seconds off the pace. Lappi described his driving as "more drifting than attacking". Adrien Fourmaux finished fifth, 50.3 seconds back, and Thierry Neuville dropped to seventh after going off in SS3, accumulating a deficit of 1:43.8.

Neuville lost time in his off-road excursion but managed to break Toyota's monopoly on stage wins by taking Friday's penultimate test. The Belgian needs to make up more than a minute and a half over the two remaining stages.

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M-Sport loses Sesks due to tire failures

M-Sport faced a disastrous Friday with tire delaminations on all three of their Ford Puma Rally1 cars during the morning. Mārtiņš Sesks retired due to multiple failures. Jon Armstrong and Josh McErlean finished eighth and ninth, more than two minutes behind the leader. The tire problems eliminated the British team from podium contention on a round where they have traditionally been competitive. Lorenzo Bertelli completed Friday in tenth place, 12:57.0 behind, on his return with a fifth GR Yaris Rally1 through Toyota's customer program.

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Korhonen leads WRC2 category

Roope Korhonen heads WRC2 with a 10.2-second advantage over Teemu Suninen, who returns to the championship for the first time since Rally Finland 2024. Korhonen won four stages in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 and leads a Finnish 1-2-3-4 in the category. Lauri Joona finished third as the highest-placed Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 driver. Taylor Gill, the runner-up in the FIA Junior WRC 2025, completed his WRC2 debut in fifth place, ahead of several regular category drivers.

Saturday presents new challenge with balanced starting order

Saturday features 104.42 kilometers divided into two passes over three stages west of Umeå, plus another night sprint. Katsuta will run first in the starting order with Evans second, positions that theoretically balance the conditions between the two drivers. The 2.8-second advantage could change in a single stage.

Evans won this rally in 2025 with Toyota and knows the upcoming stages perfectly. Katsuta seeks his second consecutive victory at Rally Sweden. With more than a 20-second gap to Pajari in third place, either driver can take risks without compromising the team's 1-2 finish.

WRC Overall After SS8 - Rally Sweden 2026

POS	#	PILOTO/COPILOTO	EQUIPO	MARCA	MODELO	TIEMPO
1	18	Takamoto KATSUTA Aaron JOHNSTON	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	1:10:33.7
2	33	Elfyn EVANS Scott MARTIN	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 02.8
3	5	Sami PAJARI Marko SALMINEN	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt2	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 22.2
4	4	Esapekka LAPPI Enni MÄLKÖNEN	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 45.9
5	16	Adrien FOURMAUX Alexandre CORIA	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 50.3
6	99	Oliver SOLBERG Elliott EDMONDSON	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 51.0
7	11	Thierry NEUVILLE Martijn WYDAEGHE	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 1:43.8
8	95	Jon ARMSTRONG Shane BYRNE	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 2:40.3
9	55	Joshua MCERLEAN Eoin TREACY	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 3:31.8
10	37	Lorenzo BERTELLI Simone SCATTOLIN	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 12:57.0
11	22	Mārtinš SESKS Renārs FRANCIS	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 49:07.1