The 2020 edition of Rally Sweden is facing unseasonal warm weather and a lack of snow in the Värmland region of Sweden and across the border in Norway. Therefore, the itinerary of the second round of the FIA World Rally Championship was cut down to only nine stages. On Saturday morning, the temperatures began to raise even more. The remaining snow and ice on the four stages, which all had been driven on Friday already, became more and more slushy.
On the morning’s first stage, ŠKODA youngster Oliver Solberg was fully awake, set the fastest WRC3 time with his ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo and was on top of that second quickest in the field of Rally2 cars. “I am happy with the setup changes we made overnight, the car feels really great,” he said. And he continued to impress, moving up to third position of the WRC3 category one stage later. At the end of the Saturday leg, Oliver Solberg had secured a 1.1 second gap to former FIA World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristoffersson (Volkswagen) in fourth.
The Finnish ŠKODA privateers Emil Lindholm/Mikael Korhonen (ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo) were leading the WRC3 category until stage 7. But by the end of the Saturday leg, they were trailing the Hyundai crew Jari Huttunen/Mikko Lukka (FIN/FIN) by 3.4 seconds. ŠKODA’s former WRC2 Champion Pontus Tidemand, who is competing together with co-driver Patrick Barth in a privately entered ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, could defend the third position in the WRC2 category.
One pass over the 21.9 kilometres long Likenas TV Wolf Power Stage stage will complete the event on Sunday, before the winning crew will be celebrated at the service park in Torsby.
Standings Rally Sweden after Day 3 (WRC2 and WRC3)
1. Huttunen/Lukka (FIN/FIN), Hyundai i20 Rally2, 1:04:18.0 h.*
2. Lindholm/Korhonen (FIN/FIN), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, +3.4 sec.*
3. Østberg/Eriksen (NOR/NOR), Citroën C3 Rally2, +5.9 sec.
4. Veiby/Andersson (NOR/SWE), Hyundai i20 Rally2, +21.7 sec.
5. Solberg/Johnston (SWE/IRL), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, +31.5 sec.*
6. Kristoffersson/Skjærmoen (SWE/NOR), Volkswagen Polo GTI Rally2, +32.6 sec.*
7. Tidemand/Barth (SWE/SWE), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, +36.3 sec.
8. Pietarinen/Anttila (FIN/FIN), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, +53.0 sec.*
*Crews eligible to score points in the WRC3 category
Number of the day: 9
Due to unseasonal warm weather and a lack of snow in the Värmland region of Sweden and across the border in Norway, the itinerary of the Rally Sweden was shortened to nine stages only
The calendar of the 2020 FIA World Rally Championship
Event/Date
Monte-Carlo 23/01/–26/01/2020
Sweden 13/02/–16/02/2020
Mexico 12/03/–15/03/2020
Argentina 23/04/–26/04/2020
Portugal 21/05/–24/05/2020
Italy 04/06/–07/06/2020
Kenya 16/07/–19/07/2020
Finland 06/08/–09/08/2020
New Zealand 03/09/–06/09/2020
Turkey 24/09/–27/09/2020
Germany 15/10/–18/10/2020
Great Britain 29/10/–01/11/2020
Japan 19/11/–22/11/2020
