Rally Sweden – Day Two
Hyundai Motorsport remains in the hunt for victory in Rally Sweden, round two of the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), after a dramatic day on the snow-lined roads.
Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe, with a slightly improved road order, regained their usual imperious form. The Belgian crew topped the timesheets on the opening stage as they set about closing the gap to the front-runners from an uncharacteristic sixth place.
The morning loop concluded at Sävar (SS11, 17.28km) with Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm continuing the team’s provisional 1-3 positions. All three stages were repeated in the afternoon with conditions proving tricky and with tyre management essential.
Breen maintained a slender lead as the second pass got underway, but stage 13 proved to be unlucky for two of Hyundai Motorsport’s crews. Lappi had set the fastest time at the 25.85km split of Floda but became stuck in a snowbank agonisingly close to the stage-end after suffering a tyre issue. Despite the heroic efforts of spectators to dig them out, the crew lost seven minutes of time desperately trying to get moving.
At the same time, the rally leaders – who were suffering a hybrid issue - picked up a delaminated front-left tyre as they edged towards the finish, clinging on to a 0.5-second buffer. Neuville, on the opposite end of the fortune scale, claimed his second fastest time of the day to move up to fourth spot.
The margins could not have been closer approaching the repeat of Sävar, which was held in the dark. With headlights illuminating the tricky wintry roads, all three crews gave their all. Neuville added a third win to draw equal with Kalle Rovanperä’s overall time, while Lappi bounced back in style to make it a Hyundai 1-2 in the stage. Breen, however, had to concede his lead to a hard-charging Tänak.
The day concluded with an extended 10.08km Umeå Sprint – which will act as Sunday morning’s Power Stage – and more changes to the overall order. Neuville finished with a flourish, confidently securing a fourth stage win, with Lappi helping the team to its second consecutive stage 1-2. Breen, still carrying his hybrid problem, lost more time as he ended the day 8.6s adrift of the lead, and 15.1s ahead of their Belgian team-mates.
Crew Notes: Craig Breen/James Fulton (#42 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid) Overnight leaders fought hard to defend their position on Saturday
Stage win in SS10 but picked up a hybrid issue and delaminated tyre in the repeat stage
Breen said: “It was important for us to get this morning out of the way. There was a lot of talk yesterday about road position, but thankfully today we could keep a good rhythm, and were happy with the opening loop. We made it into service still in the lead of the rally. We all live for that feeling to be in the fight. I’ve missed it greatly, so I was soaking up every second. Unfortunately, we lost the hybrid quite early in the second stage of the afternoon. We carried that around with us for the rest of the loop, so it was a case of damage limitation. It’s a bit disappointing but that’s how it is. We will get everything back working again for tomorrow; the kilometres are few and the gap is relatively big, but we’ll keep at it and keep our shoulder to the wheel. Overall, it’s still been a good weekend so far, we just need to round it off in the best way we can.”
Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (#11 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid) Four stage wins for the Belgians as they hunted down the podium positions
Crew holds third place, 23.7 seconds off the lead, after an impressive day
Neuville said: “The main difference today has been our road position. Since we got better grip, we have been capable of showing our speed. The lack of pre-event testing probably didn’t help yesterday, but we made a few set-up changes overnight – not too many – and we had a clean run. There was no doubt that we were attacking yesterday, it’s just that our times were masked by the road position. Today, we could set several fastest times and close in on third place. It will continue to be a tough fight with Kalle; nobody will give up and we will certainly give everything we’ve got.”
Crew Notes: Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (#4 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid) Finnish crew on competitive pace in their second WRC event with Hyundai Motorsport
Snowbank drama cost them seven minutes of time in the closing metres of SS13 (Floda 2)
Lappi said: “Like we all saw in the morning, we couldn’t match the times on the first two stages. The final one of the loop was improved, and in the afternoon we definitely had better pace. We drove fairly cleanly, and it felt like we could probably push a bit more. We were managing the tyres well, and it was generally OK. In the end, if you lose seven minutes stuck in a snowbank, it doesn’t help. We had a small vibration on the straight before, and I thought there was ice or something on the tyre. It seems the tyre delaminated; as I approached the final corner, I had no grip. There was too much snow under the car, and we were in the ditch on the other side, so we couldn’t get out easily. Now we must decide what our strategy will be for tomorrow – try to climb up the ranking or attack the Power Stage.”
Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “We have won five out of the seven stages today, which shows that our car, our team, and all three of our crews have been very competitive. Unfortunately, that has not translated as clearly onto the overall classification, which is disappointing. The main issue arose from EP having a tyre issue on SS13, which left him by the side of the road. We must sit down and work with Pirelli to understand what happened. We are competing at the pinnacle of rallying, pushing the limits, so things can happen. During that moment, Craig had to slow down, clearly losing time that then ultimately lost him the advantage that he’d worked so hard to build up. Additionally, he had lost use of the hybrid which certainly did not help. He was also on the backfoot for tyre allocation for the final stage, which all combined to put us where we are. We knew it would be tough this afternoon, but we are still in the fight, and with Thierry moving up into the podium positions too. We will continue putting everything into this rally, it’s what our crews expect from us and what we expect from them. We need to keep applying the pressure.”
Sunday at a glanceTwo passes of the 26.48km Västervik stage mean that there’s no banking on success on Sunday
Crews will have no opportunity for respite over the 63.04km competitive distance that culminates in the Umeå Sprint Power Stage.
Classification after Day Two
1 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid 1:54:45.4
2 C. Breen J. Fulton Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +8.6
3 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +23.7
4 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +27.7
5 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +57.7
7 P. L. Loubet N. Gilsoul Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid +2:28.1
Photo:Hyundaimotorsport
Overnight leaders Craig Breen and James Fulton continued their adventures in winter wonderland on Saturday, the longest individual day of the rally. The Irishmen extended their lead on the opening stages, Norrby (SS9, 12.54km) and Floda (SS10, 28.25km), and headed into lunchtime service with a three-second margin over Ott Tänak.
Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe, with a slightly improved road order, regained their usual imperious form. The Belgian crew topped the timesheets on the opening stage as they set about closing the gap to the front-runners from an uncharacteristic sixth place.
The morning loop concluded at Sävar (SS11, 17.28km) with Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm continuing the team’s provisional 1-3 positions. All three stages were repeated in the afternoon with conditions proving tricky and with tyre management essential.
Breen maintained a slender lead as the second pass got underway, but stage 13 proved to be unlucky for two of Hyundai Motorsport’s crews. Lappi had set the fastest time at the 25.85km split of Floda but became stuck in a snowbank agonisingly close to the stage-end after suffering a tyre issue. Despite the heroic efforts of spectators to dig them out, the crew lost seven minutes of time desperately trying to get moving.
At the same time, the rally leaders – who were suffering a hybrid issue - picked up a delaminated front-left tyre as they edged towards the finish, clinging on to a 0.5-second buffer. Neuville, on the opposite end of the fortune scale, claimed his second fastest time of the day to move up to fourth spot.
The margins could not have been closer approaching the repeat of Sävar, which was held in the dark. With headlights illuminating the tricky wintry roads, all three crews gave their all. Neuville added a third win to draw equal with Kalle Rovanperä’s overall time, while Lappi bounced back in style to make it a Hyundai 1-2 in the stage. Breen, however, had to concede his lead to a hard-charging Tänak.
The day concluded with an extended 10.08km Umeå Sprint – which will act as Sunday morning’s Power Stage – and more changes to the overall order. Neuville finished with a flourish, confidently securing a fourth stage win, with Lappi helping the team to its second consecutive stage 1-2. Breen, still carrying his hybrid problem, lost more time as he ended the day 8.6s adrift of the lead, and 15.1s ahead of their Belgian team-mates.
Crew Notes: Craig Breen/James Fulton (#42 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid) Overnight leaders fought hard to defend their position on Saturday
Stage win in SS10 but picked up a hybrid issue and delaminated tyre in the repeat stage
Breen said: “It was important for us to get this morning out of the way. There was a lot of talk yesterday about road position, but thankfully today we could keep a good rhythm, and were happy with the opening loop. We made it into service still in the lead of the rally. We all live for that feeling to be in the fight. I’ve missed it greatly, so I was soaking up every second. Unfortunately, we lost the hybrid quite early in the second stage of the afternoon. We carried that around with us for the rest of the loop, so it was a case of damage limitation. It’s a bit disappointing but that’s how it is. We will get everything back working again for tomorrow; the kilometres are few and the gap is relatively big, but we’ll keep at it and keep our shoulder to the wheel. Overall, it’s still been a good weekend so far, we just need to round it off in the best way we can.”
Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (#11 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid) Four stage wins for the Belgians as they hunted down the podium positions
Crew holds third place, 23.7 seconds off the lead, after an impressive day
Neuville said: “The main difference today has been our road position. Since we got better grip, we have been capable of showing our speed. The lack of pre-event testing probably didn’t help yesterday, but we made a few set-up changes overnight – not too many – and we had a clean run. There was no doubt that we were attacking yesterday, it’s just that our times were masked by the road position. Today, we could set several fastest times and close in on third place. It will continue to be a tough fight with Kalle; nobody will give up and we will certainly give everything we’ve got.”
Crew Notes: Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (#4 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid) Finnish crew on competitive pace in their second WRC event with Hyundai Motorsport
Snowbank drama cost them seven minutes of time in the closing metres of SS13 (Floda 2)
Lappi said: “Like we all saw in the morning, we couldn’t match the times on the first two stages. The final one of the loop was improved, and in the afternoon we definitely had better pace. We drove fairly cleanly, and it felt like we could probably push a bit more. We were managing the tyres well, and it was generally OK. In the end, if you lose seven minutes stuck in a snowbank, it doesn’t help. We had a small vibration on the straight before, and I thought there was ice or something on the tyre. It seems the tyre delaminated; as I approached the final corner, I had no grip. There was too much snow under the car, and we were in the ditch on the other side, so we couldn’t get out easily. Now we must decide what our strategy will be for tomorrow – try to climb up the ranking or attack the Power Stage.”
Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “We have won five out of the seven stages today, which shows that our car, our team, and all three of our crews have been very competitive. Unfortunately, that has not translated as clearly onto the overall classification, which is disappointing. The main issue arose from EP having a tyre issue on SS13, which left him by the side of the road. We must sit down and work with Pirelli to understand what happened. We are competing at the pinnacle of rallying, pushing the limits, so things can happen. During that moment, Craig had to slow down, clearly losing time that then ultimately lost him the advantage that he’d worked so hard to build up. Additionally, he had lost use of the hybrid which certainly did not help. He was also on the backfoot for tyre allocation for the final stage, which all combined to put us where we are. We knew it would be tough this afternoon, but we are still in the fight, and with Thierry moving up into the podium positions too. We will continue putting everything into this rally, it’s what our crews expect from us and what we expect from them. We need to keep applying the pressure.”
Sunday at a glanceTwo passes of the 26.48km Västervik stage mean that there’s no banking on success on Sunday
Crews will have no opportunity for respite over the 63.04km competitive distance that culminates in the Umeå Sprint Power Stage.
Classification after Day Two
1 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid 1:54:45.4
2 C. Breen J. Fulton Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +8.6
3 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +23.7
4 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +27.7
5 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +57.7
7 P. L. Loubet N. Gilsoul Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid +2:28.1
