Rain majorly disrupted the order – Finnish driver moved into the fight for victory, Verstappen went off the road

On the penultimate stage of the day, former WRC star Mads Østberg suffered a major setback when the Norwegian driver picked up a puncture. At the same time, the Citroën driver dropped from second place to eighth in the standings.

“I don’t know what to say. I’m massively disappointed. That’s how it is. There was nothing I could do. It can happen to anyone, but this time it happened to me. I came here to fight, but if you get a puncture in this rally, it’s game over,” said Østberg.

Norwegian Eyvind Brynildsen continues to lead the rally. However, on the final stage of the day, Colins 2, rain mixed up the order. Among the front-runners, Roope Korhonen managed to get through the stage in his Toyota in relatively dry conditions. Korhonen set the fastest time on the stage, beating Sweden’s Mille Johansson by 3.4 seconds.

“In the middle section it rained a lot, and I couldn’t see properly. Still, we enjoyed it and pushed flat out. That’s life. The day has been perfect. It’s great to be leading the rally. I can hardly believe it myself,” summed up Brynildsen.

Korhonen has already climbed to third place in the rally. The gap to Sweden’s Isak Reiersen in second is 1.7 seconds. Korhonen’s gap to leader Brynildsen is 6.8 seconds.

“It rained quite heavily and all sorts of things happened. Still, it didn’t rain so much that I couldn’t see out. The time gap on the stage is quite big,” Reiersen explained.

Formula star Max Verstappen’s father, Jos Verstappen, saw his rally in Sweden ruined on the final stage of Friday. Before retiring, Verstappen was running in 18th place.

In fourth place in the rally is Norway’s Frank Tore Larsen, who trails Korhonen by just 1.8 seconds. Italy’s Andrea Mabellini is fifth, ahead of Poland’s Miko Marczyk and Sweden’s Johansson.

Rally Sweden will conclude on Saturday, with eight special stages still to be run.

Standings in Royal Rally of Scandinavia after SS9/17: