Rally Sweden has been out of the WRC for a season. The COVID-19 pandemic has prevented its normal dispute in 2021, since it was unfeasible for the test to be minimally profitable. An absence that has been used by the promoter of the only winter appointment of the season to move the rally base further norththus ensuring the snow and ice that in previous editions has been more scarce than necessary. From the Värlmland region the test has moved to Umeawhere, seen as seen, the white element did accompany the pilots.
Despite this change of venue, Rally Sweden retains much of its DNA. Perhaps drivers and teams can find slightly faster sections, but the way to ‘scratch’ those last tenths of the time is to lean on the snow banks, as until now. This has been the case since the event had its first edition in 1950 and since, after passing through the ERC, it made its debut in the WRC in 1973, with the formation of the championship. Since then the test has not been disputed only four times (1974 -oil crisis-, 1990 -high temperatures-, 2009 and 2021 -coronavirus-). Local Stig Blomqivst is the driver with the most wins in Sweden, with a total of seven.
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The 69th edition of Rally Sweden features a total of 17 stages and 267.20 kilometers of sections against the clock, a figure slightly lower than the initial figure as the double pass through Örträsk had to be canceled due to unforeseen reindeer migrations. Leaving this curiosity aside, the rally will kick off with the traditional Thursday night start ceremony, now in Umea. Friday’s stage heads even further north and consists of two loops of three stages divided by a service. The last stage of the second loop and the Umea Sprint super special stage that ends at the Red Barn Arena will be run at night.
The seven sections of the first stage of the rally add up to a total of 125.67 kilometers against the clock, drawing the longest day of the event. With said cancellation, Saturday is made up of two loops of three sections. Both loops end with a longer version of the super special that ends at the Red Barn Arena. 82.30 competitive kilometers that give way to a final stage on Sunday with four sections, two double pass specials. Sarsjöliden doubles as the Power Stage to round out the day with 56.84 competitive kilometres.
Due to its status as the only winter date of the season, Pirelli tires on this rally are unique. In this case, Pirelli has displaced Sweden a new type of nailed deck. Get the name of Sottozero Ice J1B and features a total of 384 tungsten tipped nails protruding seven millimeters from the tread. A compound that will be used by both ‘Rally1’ and ‘Rally2’ and that in the case of the drivers of the queen class it is limited to 26 units for the entire rally -not including the shakedown-. The ‘Rally2’ drivers will only have 24 covers.
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Tires aside, the other great key to Rally Sweden is the use of snow banks to cross the curves with greater agility, leaning on these walls of snow and ice. The pilots know this well, and during reconnaissance they must check if they are solid enough not to end up sunk between the element bench. Participants who are led by a Kalle Rovanperä who despite being fourth in the ‘Monte’ will open the track after outpointing Craig Breen. Neither Sébastien Loeb nor Sébastien Ogier are present in Sweden.
The M-Sport driver roster, sans Loeb, consists of Craig Breen, Gus Greensmith and Adrien Fourmaux due to the last minute loss of Lorenzo Bertelli. For its part, Toyota competes without Ogier, but with four drivers of the stature of Elfyn Evans, Kalle Rovanperä, Esapekka Lappi and Takamoto Katsuta. Finally, Hyundai is committed to continuity to seek performance and will have Thierry Neuville, Ott Tänak and Oliver Solberg in their three Hyundai i20 N Rally1. At the moment, the South Korean firm still has no presence in the WRC2 category, focused on its problems in the premier class.
A WRC2 category that features a total of 24 ‘Rally2’ vehicles among which are the five Skoda of Toksport WRT with which they will compete Andreas Mikkelsen, Emil Lindhol, Nikolay Gryazin and the brothers Marquito and Bruno Bulacia. Opposite they will have two ‘Rally2’ with direct support from M-Sport to Jari Huttunen and Mattias Adielsson. The presence of pilots who are true snow specialists such as Ole Christian Veiby or Per Gunnar Andersson stands out. And in a Spanish key, Álex Villanueva competes with his C3 together with Rodrigo Sanjuán, while Marc Martí will act as co-driver for Bruno Bulacia. Eight riders start the new Junior Championship in Sweden.
Stages and times of the 69th Rally Sweden
THURSDAY, February 24, 2022
Friday, February 25, 2022
Saturday February 26, 2022
Sunday February 27, 2022
* Sections SS9 and SS13 (Örträsk 1 and 2) have been canceled
Photos: hyundai motorsport