Kalle Rovanperä blasted the fastest time on the 5.16-kilometer spectator special stage by a margin of 1.4 seconds ahead of teammate Takamoto Katsuta. Toyota achieved a podium sweep on the stage, with Elfyn Evans finishing as the third fastest, two seconds behind Rovanperä.
“It’s always good if you can set the fastest time. A clean start to the race. This is always a tricky stage because the road surface is frozen. Tomorrow should be even more fun,” Rovanperä shared.
“A good start and the car felt great. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow,” Katsuta added.
Hyundai’s Finnish driver Esapekka Lappi was surprisingly off pace, trailing Rovanperä’s leading time by 4.6 seconds. Only Luxembourg’s Gregoire Munster and the millionaire heir of the Prada family, Lorenzo Bertelli, were slower among the Rally1 drivers.
“I’m a bit surprised. It looks like it didn’t go very well. Still, the feeling was okay. I can’t say what caused it. It was a clean run, but the time is really bad,” Lappi wondered.
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak was the fourth fastest, tying with M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux, both 2.1 seconds behind Rovanperä’s top time. Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who was the first car on the road, finished 2.7 seconds off the lead.
It’s noteworthy that the sprint stage in Umeå had been plowed and artificially frozen, which somewhat benefited the early starters.
“Clean run. On the first braking, the belt tightened quite hard, I don’t know what happened,” Tänak said.
“I can’t really get the power down to the road. We have to work to get more grip for tomorrow. It was difficult to find the right braking points at the junctions,” Neuville summarized.
The Rally Sweden continues on Friday with a total of seven special stages and concludes on Sunday.
Rally Sweden standings after SS1/18:
1. Kalle Rovanperä Toyota 3:18.3 2. Takamoto Katsuta Toyota +1.4 3. Elfyn Evans Toyota +2.0 4. Ott Tänak Hyundai +2.1 5. Adrien Fourmaux Ford +2.1 6. Thierry Neuville Hyundai +2.7 7. Esapekka Lappi Hyundai +4.6 8. Gregoire Munster Ford +8.4 9. Oliver Solberg Skoda +8.8 10. Nikolay Gryazin Citroen +12.2
Itinerary (CET):
Thursday 15.2. 10.01 Shakedown: Håkmark (5,42 km) 20.05 SS1: Umeå Sprint 1 (5,16 km) Friday 16.2. 09.58 SS2: #42 Brattby 1 (10,76 km) 10.52 SS3: Norrby 1 (12,36 km) 11.55 SS4: Floda 1 (28,25 km) 14.28 Service (30 min) 15.36 SS5: #42 Brattby 2 (10,76 km) 16.30 SS6: Norrby 2 (12,36 km) 17.33 SS7: Floda 2 (28,25 km) 20.05 SS8: Umeå Sprint 2 (5,16 km) Saturday 17.2. 08.45 SS9: Vännäs 1 (15,65 km) 09.35 SS10: Sarsjöliden 1 (14,23 km) 11.08 SS11: Bygdsiljum 1 (28,06 km) 14.00 Service (30 min) 15.15 SS12: Vännäs 2 (15,65 km) 16.05 SS13: Sarsjöliden 2 (14,23 km) 17.38 SS14: Bygdsiljum 2 (28,06 km) 20.05 SS15: Umeå 1 (10,08 km) Sunday 18.2. 08.27 SS16: Västervik 1 (25,50 km) 10.06 Service (15 min) 11.03 SS17: Västervik 2 (25,50 km) 13.15 SS18: Umeå 2 (10,08 km) *Power Stage
