Lappi cleared the more than 28-kilometre-long Floda stage in the dark just over two seconds faster than Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta. Lappi now leads the rally by a margin of 1.8 seconds ahead of the Japanese driver.
“It felt very slow and like shit, Lappi said.
“The visibility is…bwoah. You can’t use all the extra lights so you have to go with a low beam. And when you’re driving over 160 it’s a bit crazy when you can’t see far. But you have to trust the notes,” Lappi sighed.
“That’s horrible! To be honest, we went nearly off. I don’t know, you cannot see anything. You have to use the extra light but you can’t see for the snow and it’s very dark,” Katsuta told.
Heavy snowfall has made the conditions extremely challenging. The tracks are filled with loose snow, and visibility is poor. Currently in third place in the rally, after a thrilling race so far, is the host country’s Oliver Solberg. Driving a Rally2-class car, Solberg is a minute and 15 seconds behind Lappi.
“I had problems with the handbrake in there. I couldn’t turn the car in the junctions and after that I lost all of the confidence. I might have taken care of my tyres too much but I got through the day,” Solberg summed up.
Adrien Fourmaux of M-Sport Ford is in fourth place, and Georg Linnamäe, competing with Toyota’s new Rally2 car, is in fifth.
Elfyn Evans of Toyota, who is in sixth place, had to clear the road for the last two forest special stages due to Thierry Neuville of Hyundai’s time penalty.
“I’m not really sure what’s been going on. But obviously we’re opening the road. I can’t even see from here to that sign in front of me and it’s this fast. It’s a bit bonkers but we’re here,” Evans reported.
One more special stage is to be run in Rally Sweden on Friday. The competition concludes on Sunday.
Rally Sweden standings after SS7/18:
1. Esapekka Lappi Hyundai 54:51.5 2. Takamoto Katsuta Toyota +1.8 3. Oliver Solberg Skoda +1:15.2 4. Adrien Fourmaux Ford +1.23.0 5. Georg Linnamäe Toyota +1:40.7 6. Elfyn Evans Toyota +1:44.9 7. Sami Pajari Toyota +1:49.0 8. Mikko Heikkilä Toyota +2:05.5 9. Roope Korhonen Toyota +2:20.9 10. Lauri Joona Skoda +2:29.1 11. Thierry Neuville Hyundai +2:43.8 12. Nikolay Gryazin Citroen +2:58.5
Itinerary (CET)
Thursday, February 15th 09:01 Shakedown: Håkmark (5.42 km) 19:05 SS1: Umeå Sprint 1 (5.16 km) Friday, February 16th 08:58 SS2: #42 Brattby 1 (10.76 km) 09:52 SS3: Norrby 1 (12.36 km) 10:55 SS4: Floda 1 (28.25 km) 13:28 Service (30 min) 14:36 SS5: #42 Brattby 2 (10.76 km) 15:30 SS6: Norrby 2 (12.36 km) 16:33 SS7: Floda 2 (28.25 km) 19:05 SS8: Umeå Sprint 2 (5.16 km) Saturday, February 17th 07:45 SS9: Vännäs 1 (15.65 km) 08:35 SS10: Sarsjöliden 1 (14.23 km) 10:08 SS11: Bygdsiljum 1 (28.06 km) 13:00 Service (30 min) 14:15 SS12: Vännäs 2 (15.65 km) 15:05 SS13: Sarsjöliden 2 (14.23 km) 16:38 SS14: Bygdsiljum 2 (28.06 km) 19:05 SS15: Umeå 1 (10.08 km) Sunday, February 18th 07:27 SS16: Västervik 1 (25.50 km) 09:06 Service (15 min) 10:03 SS17: Västervik 2 (25.50 km) 12:15 SS18: Umeå 2 (10.08 km) *Power Stage
