Friday, March 29, 2024

Ott Tanak with first victory for Ford in Rally Sweden 2023 after a 5 year break

sweden_2023_tanak.jpg

Tänak Ott / Järveoja M. (Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid) won Rally Sweden 2023. They managed to fight off Breen Craig / Fulton James (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid), who even led in Rally Sweden. But they still trailed the strong Ford crew by 18.7 seconds, 10 of which after a penalty.
Neuville T. / Wydaeghe M. (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid) lost second place after the final stage, 20.0 seconds behind the leader and just 1.3 seconds behind Craig Breen.
Rovanperä K. / Halttunen Jonne (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid) failed to make a clean race in snowy Sweden and remained in 4th position at 25.1 seconds.
Evans Elfyn / Martin Scott (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid) had snow and car problems and were 1:24.1 behind. After them, the differences grew significantly in the general classification.
The Power Stage was won by Lappi Esapekka / Ferm Janne (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid) who drove the max stage, finishing 7th overall after a tough weekend for the crew.
In the Power Stage, second, third and fourth had identical times, all 0.6 seconds behind Lappi. This ranking was achieved by Evans, Rovanpera and Tanak.
First in RC2 are Swedes Solberg Oliver / Edmondson E. (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2).
This is what the winner Ott Tanak said after the final: It obviously means a lot to me, to come into a new car and deliver to these guys [at M-Sport]. It's a big effort for them to fight against such big manufacturers. I am sure they are getting quite a bit of stress from me, but as long as it's delivering then we are all winning. It's great to be part of this team.
The next round of the WRC championship is the Guanajuato Rally México on March 16-19.
Ott Tanak came out on top in the championship after round two, Rally Sweden 2023.

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