Petter Solberg’s 22-year-old son led the
Rally2-based category from start to finish and underlined his ultra-strong
showing by claiming 11 fastest stage times and a winning margin of 1min 19.7
sec.
With Briton Elliott Edmondson co-driving
his Pirelli-equipped Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, Solberg led home a quartet of
Toyota’s new-for-2024 GR Yaris Rally2s, headed by Sami Pajari and Georg
Linnamäe, to bag a third WRC2 career triumph.
“Amazing, what a weekend with so many
people, my family and friends and the atmosphere,” Solberg said. “In my first
event with Škoda Motorsport, to win like this is amazing. It's cool, just
awesome. Elliott [Edmondson, co-driver] and the team did a fantastic job.
Thanks also to the volunteers and all the people working for Rally Sweden to
make such a great event.”
Pajari started Rally Sweden’s deciding three
stages this morning (Sunday) leading Linnamäe by 0.2sec. That gap increased to
4.0sec following SS16 after Linnamäe reported mishearing a pacenote from
co-driver James Morgan.
Although Estonian Linnamäe outpaced Pajari
on the Wolf Power Stage, the Finn held on to finish runner-up by 2.5sec.
“It was really tricky, somehow way more
slippery than I thought, but I’m really happy,” Pajari said at the finish of
the final stage. “It was a really tricky rally, and I’m really pleased for the
second place for us and for the team. The car is really fast and reliable –
that's the main thing.”
Linnamäe, who becomes the fourth Estonian
to achieve a WRC2 podium place following on from Egon Kaur, Karl Kruuda and Ott
Tänak, held second until he slipped back after spinning nearing the finish of
SS11 on Saturday. As well as his maiden WRC2 podium, the 25-year-old scored his
first outright stage win in the heavy snow of Friday afternoon.
“We’ve been moving up one position every
year; hopefully in two years we can get the win,” he said. “It was a good
rally, just a shame about the small mistake. It’s been a team effort and I’m
very proud of them. It’s amazing what they have done this rally.”
Mikko Heikkilä’s bid to catch reigning WRC3
champion Roope Korhonen for fourth was hampered when he spun at high speed on
SS16 and dropped more than 20sec to his rival. “I lost the rear in a really
high-speed corner and went sideways [for] 10 metres,” Heikkilä said. “Luckily
nothing happened, but a bit too much attack.”
Behind Korhonen and Heikkilä, Lauri Joona
finished sixth with Emil Lindholm fighting back from technical issues on day
one to place seventh ahead of Swedish youngster Isak Reiersen.
Despite a brief stop on the penultimate
stage, Michał Sołowow secured ninth and the WRC Masters Cup laurels for the
second year running in Sweden.
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC Challenge Program
member Yuki Yamamoto was ninth heading into Saturday’s final stage. However, a
damaged suspension arm, sustained on SS14, forced the Japanese youngster to go
slow through SS15. He dropped to 10th, a position he maintained across Sunday’s
finale.
Junior WRC champion William Creighton
finished in 14th place aboard his Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy-backed Ford
Fiesta Rally2, his prize for winning the young driver title in 2023.
Portugal
Spain
France
