The Rally Sweden shakedown was held yesterday in Råda on a 4.3km-long section located close to the Hagfors service park. Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia made only limited use of the shakedown, held on the same stage as last year. Volkswagen driver Andreas Mikkelsen set the fastest time on the opening special stage to take an early lead on Rally Sweden.
The Norwegian completed the 1.9km Karlstadt Super Special 0.8 seconds quicker than his reigning world champion team-mate Sebastian Ogier, who lost time by picking the wrong line in the early part of the test.
Ogier was a further 1.4s quicker than World Rally returnee Ott Tanak (Ford Fiesta RS). The Estonian, starting his first event since the 2012 Rally of Spain, prevented Jari-Matti Latvala making a VW clean sweep of the top three by just 0.2s. M-Sport Fiesta driver Mikko Hirvonen was fifth fastest, while fellow Fiesta driver Henning Solberg, starting his first WRC event since last year’s Rally Sweden, rounded out the top six.
Leading positions after SS1:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Andreas Mikkelsen VW 1m33.4s
2. Sebastien Ogier VW +0.8s
3. Ott Tanak M-Sport Ford +2.2s
4. Jari-Matti Latvala VW +2.4s
5. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen +2.6s
6. Henning Solberg Solberg Ford +3.0s
7. Juho Hanninen Hyundai +3.2s
8. Mads Ostberg Citroen +3.2s
9. Thierry Neuville Hyundai +3.4s
10. Kris Meeke Citroen +3.9s
