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Elfyn Evans emerged from a thrilling Friday at Rally Sweden with a slender lead as an intense battle at the top saw just 9.1 seconds covering the leading five drivers.
The FIA World Rally Championship’s only pure snow rally delivered a day of fluctuating fortunes, with multiple lead changes across the seven snow and ice-laden speed tests. Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver Evans set the early pace and led at midday service, but as conditions evolved, so did the leaderboard.
Takamoto Katsuta briefly hit the front on SS5 before Evans responded immediately to reclaim the top spot. Then, as darkness fell over the Bäck stage, Ott Tänak edged ahead – only to lose his advantage on the final Umeå Sprint test as worn tyres cost him valuable time. Evans seized the opportunity, clocking the fastest time to move back into the lead once more.
Katsuta’s strong pace kept him within just 0.6sec of his Toyota team-mate, while Tänak slipped to third, 2.5sec off the lead.
Adrien Fourmaux was one of the standout performers in the morning, winning two stages and running as high as second. His momentum slowed slightly in the afternoon, but the Frenchman still ended the day a strong fourth, just 5.4sec behind Hyundai i20 N Rally1 colleague Tänak. A stall on SS5 – at the same tricky corner that caught out Kalle Rovanperä and Josh McErlean – was his biggest setback.
Defending champion Thierry Neuville endured a frustrating start, struggling with understeer, but found his rhythm later in the day. A stage win helped him claw back some time, and he completed the leg 9.1sec down on Evans in fifth overall.
Two-time world champion Rovanperä had an uncharacteristically subdued day. Not helped by an overshoot on SS5, the Finn failed to break into the top three on any stage and trailed Neuville by 16.4sec at close of play.
Mārtiņš Sesks impressed on his return to M-Sport Ford’s Puma Rally1, posting a pair of top-three stage times on his way to seventh. Team-mate McErlean, in only his second Rally1 start, continued to build confidence and finished the day eighth.
Toyota’s Sami Pajari showed flashes of strong pace but was hampered by an early brush with a snowbank that dislodged a tyre from the rim and limited him to ninth. Grégoire Munster completed the top 10 in his Puma.
Scintillating Solberg supreme in WRC2
Home hero Oliver Solberg picked up right where he left off 12 months ago in Umeå, leading WRC2 with another commanding performance.
Although Solberg’s season unofficially began at Rallye Monte-Carlo last month, this event marks his first point-scoring outing of the year – and the 23-year-old is making it count in style.
Having dominated the field last year in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, Solberg showed the same precision behind the wheel of a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, reeling off five stage wins to kick off the weekend. However, his dominance was slightly curtailed in the afternoon loop as he hinted at some handling issues with his Yaris.
This opened the door for fellow Yaris drivers Georg Linnamäe and Roope Korhonen to claim stage wins, but Solberg still maintained a 23.8sec advantage over Korhonen by the end of the day.
Friday was particularly memorable for former WRC3 champion Korhonen, who secured his maiden WRC2 stage win on the second run of Bäck 2. The young Finn ended the day solidly in second place, 22.1sec ahead of Linnamäe, putting himself firmly in contention for his first WRC2 podium.
Estonian Linnamäe was the biggest mover of the afternoon. Starting the loop in sixth, he charged past Finnish trio Mikko Heikkilä, Lauri Joona, and Tuukka Kauppinen to end the day third overall, albeit just 6.6sec clear of Heikkilä.
Another Estonian making gains was reigning FIA Junior WRC champion Romet Jürgenson. Climbing from 12th to seventh in his Ford Fiesta Rally2, he now holds a 6.5sec buffer over Isak Reierson, who finds himself locked in a tight battle with fellow Swede Pontus Tidemand. Just 3.2sec separate the compatriots, while Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zaldivar rounds out the overnight top ten.
Saturday’s penultimate leg offers plenty of opportunity for more twists and includes seven high-speed stages covering 101.96km.
Johansson sets the benchmark in Junior WRC
Mille Johansson dominated Friday’s opening leg, storming to a 48.3-second lead as the 2025 FIA Junior WRC season kicked off in style.
The 19-year-old, chasing back-to-back victories on home soil, was virtually untouchable across the first full day’s ice-laden speed tests. Adding to his fastest time on Thursday night’s super special in Umeå, Johansson set the benchmark on four out of seven stages to stamp his authority on the M-Sport Poland Ford Fiesta Rally3 field.
Co-driven by Johan Grönvall, Johansson made his FIA Junior WRC debut at Rally Sweden last season as a one-off. This time, however, he is in for the full five-round campaign – his prize for clinching the 2024 FIA Junior ERC title.
FIA Rally Star’s Their misfortune opened the door for Türkiye’s Ali Türkkan, who vaulted from sixth to third in the afternoon – only to be overtaken by Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver Eamonn Kelly on the final stage of the day. Taylor Gill and co-driver Daniel Brkíc quickly emerged as Johansson’s closest challengers and came out firing on all cylinders by winning Friday’s opening Bygdsiljum test, where Johansson briefly lost time with an overshoot. However, Johansson quickly recovered and pulled clear as the day progressed.
French newcomer Tristan Charpentier and Paraguay’s Diego Domínguez had been holding third and fourth places at the midday service, but both went off the road on SS5. Charpentier lost almost 12 minutes with his mishap, while Domínguez was forced into retirement with radiator damage.
