Thierry Neuville leads in the general classification of Rally Sweden at the end of the first race day. The Hyundai driver is 28.1sec in front of Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota). Ott Tanak (M-Sport) is third in the ranking – +49.7sec behind the Belgian.
Friday’s schedule saw crews tackle snowy stages in Sweden and across the border into Norway. A repeat loop, including the classic Röjden, the brand new Hof-Finnskog and the 24.88km Svullrya – the longest stage of the day – was supplemented by the 16.43km Torsby stage which was held in the dark.
The rally’s Torsby base afforded snowier conditions for the event than twelve months ago. Crews had to adapt to changing grip conditions between the morning and afternoon loop, while also considering the best quantity of Michelin X-Ice North studded tyres for each pass.
Neuville and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul were determined to bounce back from the disappointment of missing out on a fight for victory in Monte Carlo. They set the standard in five out of Friday’s seven stages. After fending off an initial challenge from Latvala, the Belgians extended their lead to 28.1s. However, with a long and precarious rally still to run, the pair is rightly cautious.
Thierry Neuville said:
“All in all, it’s been a good day’s work for us. To lead the rally by such a margin is obviously very encouraging. But we are not getting carried away because we know how unpredictable this rally can be. There’s a long way to go! We had a decent first loop today, although it wasn’t perfect. In SS4, there were a lot of deep cuts and I hit something very hard with the front. I took it carefully after that in case it was a puncture. Our pace notes were good for the afternoon loop and we looked after the studs so our tyres had performance right to the end. My door kept opening slightly on the final stage, which was a distraction but overall the car has been working very well here and I’m optimistic for the rest of the weekend.”
Overall classification at the end of the day. #RallySweden pic.twitter.com/nktIYGiKxj
— Rally Sweden (@RallySweden) 10 February 2017
