Toyota Yaris Victory on Rally Sweden
Toyota won its first World Rally Championship event since 1999 on Rally Sweden, after just two events into its comeback. Jari-Matti Latvala inherited the lead when Thierry Neuville crashed out on Saturday's last stage, for the second WRC event in a row, making heavy contact with a concrete block on Saturday's superspecial in Karlstad, while more than 40 seconds clear with only three stages to run.
With Neuville out, what had been an intense battle for second was promoted to the lead fight, with Latvala in top spot ahead of M-Sport's Ott Tanak and Sebastien Ogier and despite Saturday's loop being shortened due to concerns over high speeds, Tanak made the most of running further back on the road and was fastest on all three of the morning stages, cutting Latvala's advantage from 21.6s to 3.8s by the end of Saturday.
After sweeping stages as first car on the road on Friday, Ogier also joined the battle, and started Sunday 16.6s behind Latvala but two rapid times from the Toyota driver on Sunday morning extended his lead to over 20s before the powerstage while Tanak suffered with a loose rear end on his Fiesta and team-mate Ogier fell out of the fight with a spin at the first corner of the first stage on Sunday.
Latvala won the powerstage to grab an extra five championship points and finish with a margin of 29.2s in Toyota's first WRC victory since Didier Auriol won Rally China in 1999. Tanak took a second successive podium to start 2017, while Monte winner Ogier grabbed third and points for second on the powerstage.
Kris Meeke would have been on for fourth, but he crashed out of contention on Saturday afternoon, after a crest had unsettled his Citroen C3 before going off at a low-speed left-hander, dropping him to 12th in the final order but he did take fourth on the powerstage to secure two points.
Dani Sordo headed Craig Breen, who was struggling for confidence in his first event aboard Citroen's 2017 car but finished fifth for a second consecutive rally. Elfyn Evans hit a bank and suffered a puncture on Friday, then had an engine issue on Sunday morning, but still held off Hayden Paddon for sixth after the Kiwi had struggled with his Hyundai on Friday morning, but a set-up change at service improved things.
Stephane Lefebvre was the highest placed 2016-spec car in eighth, on only his second visit to Sweden and Mads Ostberg struggled on his debut in a 2017 car in his privately-run Ford Fiesta WRC which lost its rear wing on Friday, forcing him to drive two stages with limited rear downforce. He continued and with that rectified set top 10 times on his way to 15th. Skoda driver Pontus Tidemand won his home round in WRC2 in ninth overall, heading Teemu Suninen and OC Veiby.
Jari-Matti Latvala now leads the championship by four points from Sebastien Ogier after two rallies.
Top Ten Finishers:
Pos Driver Car Gap
1 Jari-Matti Latvala, M.Anttila Toyota 2h36m03.6s
2 Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja Ford 29.2s
3 Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia Ford 59.5s
4 Dani Sordo, M.Marti Hyundai 2m11.5s
5 Craig Breen, S.Martin Citroen 2m51.2s
6 Elfyn Evans, D.Barritt Ford 5m26.6s
7 Hayden Paddon, J.Kennard Hyundai 5m31.2s
8 Stephane Lefebvre, G.Moreau Citroen 7m14.7s
9 Pontus Tidemand, J.Andersson Skoda 9m11.1s
10 Teemu Suninen, M.Markkula Ford 10m02.9s
12th February, 2017