WRC Sweden: Rovanpera Dominates Stage 1

In his eagerly awaited return to the World Rally Championship, world champion Kalle Rovanpera got off to a right start, triumphing in the opening stage of the Rally Sweden on Thursday night.

Rovanpera, who holds two world titles, began his partial 2024 campaign in the WRC with an impressive performance in the first of the 18 snow stages: the 5.16 km Umea Sprint. Starting seventh on the route, Rovanpera set a time 1.4 seconds faster than his Toyota teammate, Takamoto Katsuta. "It's always good when the time is on this side of the stopwatch," Rovanpera commented. "This circuit is always tricky because of the ice, so finding grip is a challenge".

Toyota took the top three places in this night-time super special stage. Elfyn Evans, who started second, recorded the third best time, only 0.6 seconds behind Rovanpera. Evans, from Wales, admitted he did not feel fast enough in the slippery conditions.

Ott Tanak of Hyundai and Adrien Fourmaux of M-Sport tied with identical times, both 2.1 seconds behind Rovanpera. Tanak, the 2019 world champion, described his performance as solid, though not without discomfort. Championship leader Thierry Neuville, who was first on the route, struggled to generate traction in his i20 N, finishing 2.7 seconds behind in sixth place.

Esapekka Lappi of Hyundai was surprisingly slow compared to his rivals, finishing 4.6 seconds behind in his return to the championship as a part-time driver in seventh place. "I don't know. I guess it shows we don't have enough grip," Lappi expressed. Gregoire Munster of M-Sport finished eighth (+8.4s), just ahead of Rally2 leading competitor Oliver Solberg, who was only 0.4 seconds behind Munster's Puma Rally1. The top 10 was completed by Roope Korhonen, driver of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.

The rally continues on Friday with teams facing seven stages, totaling 107.90 km.