Sebastien Ogier emerged victorious in a thrilling Rally Sweden showdown, as Volkswagen team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen threw away a potential maiden World Rally Championship win on the final stage. But a similar fate befell Mikkelsen part-way through the event-closing Varmullsasen power stage, ending his hopes of taking a first WRC victory as Ogier came through to snatch the win, as well as three bonus points for setting the best time on the finale.
Hayden Paddon took a career-best fifth place finish in the second factory Hyundai, a further minute behind Tanak, with the second M-Sport car of Elfyn Evans sixth after he managed to beach his Ford Fiesta in a snow bank on Friday. Jari-Matti Latvala was in strong victory contention, duelling with team-mate Ogier on the early stages of the rally, but the Finn’s hopes were dashed when he lost eight minutes stuck in a snow bank on the final stage of Friday. He ended the rally out of the points in 12th position.
Also enduring a miserable time was Robert Kubica, who dropped out of the points on Friday with a broken propshaft before being handed a five-minute penalty for his Ford Fiesta RS WRC exceeding the maximum permissible boost level, dropping him to 20th overall.
LEADING FINISHERS AFTER SS21:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
1 | Sebastien Ogier | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 2h55m30.5s |
2 | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 6.4s |
3 | Andreas Mikkelsen | Volkswagen Motorsport II | Volkswagen | 39.8s |
4 | Ott Tanak | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 2m26.0s |
5 | Hayden Paddon | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 3m31.5s |
6 | Elfyn Evans | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 3m53.0s |
7 | Kris Meeke | Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT | Citroen | 4m05.8s |
8 | Martin Prokop | Jipocar Czech National Team | Ford | 4m26.0s |
9 | Yuriy Protasov | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 5m32.2s |
10 | Mads Ostberg | Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT | Citroen | 6m50.9s |
LEADING POWER STAGE TIMES:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
1 | Sebastien Ogier | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 8m05.6s |
2 | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 4.8s |
3 | Mads Ostberg | Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT | Citroen | 9.9s |
4 | Jari-Matti Latvala | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 11.5s |
5 | Elfyn Evans | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 15.2s |
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER TWO OF 13 ROUNDS:
Pos | Driver | Points |
1 | Sebastien Ogier | 53 |
2 | Thierry Neuville | 30 |
3 | Andreas Mikkelsen | 30 |
4 | Jari-Matti Latvala | 19 |
5 | Mads Ostberg | 14 |
6 | Elfyn Evans | 14 |
7 | Ott Tanak | 12 |
8 | Hayden Paddon | 10 |
9 | Kris Meeke | 10 |
10 | Daniel Sordo | 8 |
11 | Martin Prokop | 6 |
12 | Sebastien Loeb | 6 |
13 | Yuriy Protasov | 2 |