Excellent Evans excels in Rally Sweden

3 days ago5 min read

Written by Benjamin Crundwell, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri

As the only all-snow venue on the WRC calendar, Rally Sweden stands out to be a unique test for the drivers. Despite the tough conditions, the rally went down to the wire, as Elfyn Evans took the spoils, just 3.8 seconds ahead of Takamoto Katsuta.

Day 1

Day one saw drivers only have to navigate a single sprint stage, a short 5.16 km burst to kick off proceedings. The Umeå Sprint, new for this year's rally, saw drivers navigate tight hairpins, three jumps and The Red Barn Arena in front of the fans.

Previous Rally Sweden winner Evans took an early lead. Kalle Rovanperä and Ott Tänak shared second place, having completed the stage in identical times, their gap to Evans was just half a second — foreshadowing how tight the margins would remain for the rest of the rally.

Evans stated: “The conditions look brilliant — you couldn’t really hope for much better.”

Standings after day 1

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin -
Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen + 0.5
Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja + 0.5
Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria + 1.2
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe + 3.7
Takamoto Katsuta, Aaron Johnston + 5.4
Sami Pajari, Marko Salminen + 5.6
Joshua McErlean, Eoin Treacy + 7.5
Grégoire Munster, Louis Louka + 10.5
Mārtinš Sesks, Renārs Francis + 11.0

Day 2

The first full day of running included seven stages, totalling just under 125km. Being Valentine's day, it was only suitable for a number of cars to be kissing the snow banks.

Toyota Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala described the day as “very exciting”, and he wasn’t wrong. Evans held his lead in the morning, stretching it to 3.9s at one point, but Katsuta wrested the lead in the afternoon, at the end of SS5, despite a run-in with the snow bank during the stage.

The Japanese driver’s lead was short lived, however, as Evans reclaimed it in the next stage, before Tänak jumped them both in SS7. Once again, Evans didn’t concede first place for long, beating his rival in the final stage.

Only 9.1s separated the top five at the end of the day, as Adrien Fourmaux pulled himself into contention with two stage wins. Meanwhile Neuville finished fifth, despite complaining of understeer throughout the day. Neuville’s woes wouldn’t define the day, however, as he took a stage win in the afternoon.

Rovanperä failed to impress, never making the top three on any stage. His 2025 Swedish campaign is not much more successful than last year, when he crashed from the lead.

Standings after day 2

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin -
Takamoto Katsuta, Aaron Johnston + 0.6
Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja + 1.3
Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria + 7.9
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe + 9.1
Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen + 25.5
Mārtinš Sesks, Renārs Francis + 43.6
Joshua McErlean, Eoin Treacy + 1:02.6
Sami Pajari, Marko Salminen + 1:10.6
Grégoire Munster, Louis Louka + 1:22.5

Day 3

As the times at the front continued to be tight, the drivers scrapped hard to carry the momentum into the final day.

Engine coolant spilling onto his windscreen caused Tänak to lose over ten seconds in the morning, an issue he refused to admit in the post-stage interviews. The Estonian driver lost a further six seconds in the afternoon, before pulling it back in the final two stages to sit fourth, just 12.8s off the lead.

Hyundai driver Adrien Fourmaux took himself out of contention, losing 20 seconds when he had to slow down on SS11 to fasten his helmet strap. Horrified with his own mistake, Fourmaux refused to answer questions from reporters at the end of stage, instead choosing to stare forward and ignore the microphone.

Fighting to regain time in the afternoon, Fourmaux buried himself in a snowbank — with no chance of a podium, he would have to give it everything for the points on Super Sunday.

Evans never relinquished his lead, stretching it to 8.6s at one point, however he would finish the day just three seconds ahead of Katsuta after a mistake on the final stage. The Japanese driver could have been leading the rally if he hadn’t overshot a junction in the twelfth stage.

Neuville had a stronger day, starting 13.9s off the lead, a margin he would whittle down to just 6.3s after the final stage. He suddenly stood a realistic shot at taking his first win of the year. Meanwhile, Rovanperä had a stronger day 3, despite finishing 22.9s back and not getting himself into contention for victory.

Standings after day 3

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin -
Takamoto Katsuta, Aaron Johnston + 3.0
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe + 6.3
Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja + 12.8
Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen + 22.9
Mārtinš Sesks, Renārs Francis + 1:31.4
Sami Pajari, Marko Salminen + 1:43.6
Joshua McerlEan, Eoin Treacy + 2:05.8
Grégoire Munster, Louis Louka + 2:45.9

Day 4

It was all on the line coming into the final day. The top four were separated by under 13s, and extra points were up for grabs due to the Super Sunday format introduced last year. One mistake could be the difference between winning the rally and going home empty-handed.

Fan favourite Katsuta starred in the opening stage of the day, not just closing the gap to Evans, but taking the lead by a massive 4.5s. Neuville and Tänak too ate into the Welsh driver’s margin, ending just 8.9s and 10.7s respectively behind him. There were final day troubles for the all-Irish duo led by Joshua McErlean, who found themselves stuck in the snow after going off.

The lead changed hands in the penultimate stage, with Evans winning it by a staggering 6.7s, meaning his advantage over Katsuta stood at 3.7s heading into the final stage. Despite Katsuta putting it all on the line in the final split, Evans went a tenth faster to secure the overall rally win by just 3.8s, adding an extra point for winning the power stage.

Neuville took the final step on the podium, followed closely by Tänak, and Rovanperä rounded out the top five. Mārtinš Sesks beat Sami Pajari in their fight for sixth, as well as finishing almost two minutes ahead of the next fastest Ford driven by Grégoire Munster in eighth place.

In WRC2 Oliver Solberg dominated, winning by over 45s. Third-placed Mikko Heikkilä said he was only fighting for second, as “if we’re competing against Oliver, there is no chance to win.”

Standings after day 4

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin -
Takamoto Katsuta, Aaron Johnston + 3.8
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe + 11.9
Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja + 16.8
Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen + 32.8
Mārtinš Sesks, Renārs Francis + 2:09.4
Sami Pajari, Marko Salminen + 2:27.0
Grégoire Munster, Louis Louka + 4:08.6

Evans has now taken a well-deserved championship lead, followed by Sébastian Ogier (who will not race a full season this year), with Rovanperä 30 points adrift of leader Evans.

Reigning world champion Neuville sits fourth after a tricky start to the year. Tänak is in fifth place, with Katsuta down in sixth after a poor opening weekend in Monte Carlo.