Rally Sweden – Day One
Hyundai Motorsport holds the lead of Rally Sweden, the second round of the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) after a strong performance on snowy roads resulted in three stage wins and a provisional double podium.
Irish crew Craig Breen and James Fulton joined the 2023 WRC party in style with a confident and assured performance in their Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid. The duo topped the timesheets at the end of Friday’s schedule with a 2.6-second advantage.
Their Finnish team-mates Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm showed equal potential on the high-octane Swedish roads to end the day in third, chasing a podium result in only their second WRC event with Hyundai Motorsport.
After a spectacular Thursday evening Umeå Sprint special, the first complete day of action covered a repeat of three timed stage, Brattby (SS2/SS5, 10.76km), Sarsjöliden (SS3/SS6, 14.23km) and Botsmark (25.81km), following a clockwise loop to the north of the service park.
Breen, in his first WRC event of the 2023 season, got off to a flyer with a stage-winning performance in the 10.76km Brattby stage. It was a statement of intent for the Irish crew with Breen showing his raw emotion after an impressive performance. “I’ve really missed this feeling,” he said at the end of the stage.
Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe picked up aero damage on the opening loop, amplifying the disadvantage of an early road position; the Belgians completed the morning loop in seventh spot demonstrating their usual tenacity. Lunchtime service offered crews the opportunity to refine their set-ups to prepare for rutted repeat stages.
Breen set out on a mission from the outset, storming to another fastest time – this one by a margin of 7.8 seconds – and jokingly proclaiming himself Mayor of Brattby. The newly elected Mr Mayor added a third stage win on the following test to establish an overall lead of 10.5 seconds.
That margin was reduced over the following stages, but the crew did what they needed to hold the overnight top spot, with Lappi/Ferm in third and Neuville/Wydaeghe making up a position to sixth, suffering from more aero damage in the afternoon loop.
Crew Notes: Craig Breen/James Fulton (#42 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
Their Finnish team-mates Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm showed equal potential on the high-octane Swedish roads to end the day in third, chasing a podium result in only their second WRC event with Hyundai Motorsport.
After a spectacular Thursday evening Umeå Sprint special, the first complete day of action covered a repeat of three timed stage, Brattby (SS2/SS5, 10.76km), Sarsjöliden (SS3/SS6, 14.23km) and Botsmark (25.81km), following a clockwise loop to the north of the service park.
Breen, in his first WRC event of the 2023 season, got off to a flyer with a stage-winning performance in the 10.76km Brattby stage. It was a statement of intent for the Irish crew with Breen showing his raw emotion after an impressive performance. “I’ve really missed this feeling,” he said at the end of the stage.
Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe picked up aero damage on the opening loop, amplifying the disadvantage of an early road position; the Belgians completed the morning loop in seventh spot demonstrating their usual tenacity. Lunchtime service offered crews the opportunity to refine their set-ups to prepare for rutted repeat stages.
Breen set out on a mission from the outset, storming to another fastest time – this one by a margin of 7.8 seconds – and jokingly proclaiming himself Mayor of Brattby. The newly elected Mr Mayor added a third stage win on the following test to establish an overall lead of 10.5 seconds.
That margin was reduced over the following stages, but the crew did what they needed to hold the overnight top spot, with Lappi/Ferm in third and Neuville/Wydaeghe making up a position to sixth, suffering from more aero damage in the afternoon loop.
Crew Notes: Craig Breen/James Fulton (#42 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
- Three stage wins secured on an impressive day for the Irish crew
- The pair holds a 2.6-second lead after eight out of this weekend’s 18 stages
Breen said: “It is hard to imagine that things would be as good as they have been today. We have had a good road position, of course, but we also have a good car. We tried to use both to take an advantage; to lead the rally overnight is a bit of a dream. I feel completely comfortable in the car, it feels soft and cuddly. For the moment, I am happy with it but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. I still don’t feel we are at the peak of where we need to be. It’s far from over. Tomorrow is a long day, and we’ve seen today that it’s hard to make much of a difference. I will give all I can, and whatever happens it won’t be for the want of trying. It’s like the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party in this rally – everyone is invited!”
Crew Notes: Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (#4 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
- Two top-two stage times for the Finnish crew on Friday
- Third place overall puts them in strong contention for a podium charge
Lappi said: “Today has not been too bad but I feel there is much more to come. I was quite satisfied this morning, and thought we were where we wanted to be. It’s always good to be further up but it was a solid start. Our preparation for the event was good, and I like these conditions. I thought we would have a better set-up for the second pass but that didn’t happen as we’d expected. We will have a think overnight to see what changes we might make. We don’t want to do anything too drastic, especially with the feeling we have now, otherwise we risk something going wrong. There are small things to perfect as we try to find more improvements in our pace.”
Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (#11 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
- Neuville fought back from illness and aero damage to end Friday in sixth spot overall
- Early road position made wintry conditions tricky for the Belgian crew
Neuville said: “It has been a very challenging day out there. We knew that road conditions would not be great for us as one of the first cars on the road, but we still had hope. Despite the conditions, we were incredibly unlucky to lose the bumper twice, this morning and this afternoon, so we were handicapped by that. We started the day five seconds behind Kalle (Rovanperä) and ended it 5.7 seconds back; we would have loved to turn things around but with the missing aero we just couldn’t. We had to limit the damage. Tomorrow, the road position is better but we still have the front guys behind us so it will be another challenge; we will give it our best shot anyhow.”
Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “Craig and James have been quite remarkable today, and we’ve been delighted to see their performance. The entire team, in fact, put a lot of effort into our pre-event test, and the results of that have shown. Craig was positive about the outcome from the test, in terms of set-up changes and development parts; that’s all helped him to build confidence with the team and the car. Stepping in for Thierry while he was unwell added extra mileage, which also helped. For the rest, he has simply been enjoying himself, and his end-of-stage reactions have been wonderful to see. These pure emotions are why we do what we do; the drivers are ambassadors of our sport and our brand, and they openly share these with the fans. It’s pure joy. EP has also had a strong day, pushing hard, and growing in confidence too. Thierry, still recovering from his illness, and being early on the road, has had a harder day. He picked up some damage which affected the aero performance on his car; on these roads understeer is not what you want. Tomorrow is the longest individual day of the rally in terms of stage distance so we will work closely with all three crews to prepare diligently to make improvements.”
Saturday at a glance
- Seven special stages await on the penultimate day, a trio of repeated stages, followed by the evening Umeå Sprint, held over a longer 10.08km distance
- The primary loop consists of Norrby (SS9/SS12, 12.54km), Floda (SS10/SS13, 28.25km) and Sävar (SS11/SS14, 17.28km)
- A total competitive distance of 126.22km makes Saturday the longest individual programme of the Rally Sweden event
Classification after Day One
| 1 | C. Breen | J. Fulton | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid | 57:05.5 |
| 2 | O. Tänak | M. Järveoja | Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid | +2.6 |
| 3 | E. Lappi | J. Ferm | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid | +11.2 |
| 4 | E. Evans | S. Martin | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid | +26.5 |
| 5 | K. Rovanperä | J. Halttunen | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | +31.1 |
| 6 | T. Neuville | M. Wydaeghe | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid | +36.8 |
| 7 | P. L. Loubet | N. Gilsoul | Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid | +1:16.2 |
