WRC - Mixed fortunes for M-Sport in Sweden

Promising the same pace we saw from them in Monte-Carlo last month, Evgeny Novikov and co-driver Denis Giraudet did not disappoint. Despite his limited experience of winter rallying, the young Russian set competitive times throughout – including the third fastest time on SS7 – to lay fifth in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC overnight. Regrettably, the 21 year-old would have been even closer to the front-runners had he not suffered problems with his tyres on SS9. With only one spare, Novikov lost over 30 seconds but maintains fifth place ahead of tomorrow.

Ecstatic to be back behind the wheel of a WRC car, Michal Solowow and co-driver Maciej Baran produced a controlled drive on the snow-covered stages of Rally Sweden to lay 18th heading into the second full day of competition tomorrow. The Polish pairing will be looking to continue their composed performance in their Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

The rally got off to a flying start for Ott Tänak and co-driver Kuldar Sikk at the opening stage on Friday night. Taking third place in the super-special, the duo held the podium spot leading into the first full day of competition today. Unfortunately, Tänak lost over 11 minutes on SS2 when his Ford Fiesta RS WRC became lodged in a snow bank. Recovering well, the 24-year-old bounced back to set competitive stage times throughout the rest of the morning loop. Unfortunately for the young Estonian, further disappointment came in the afternoon when bald tyres forced three uncharacteristic spins.

Evgeny Novikov said: “This afternoon was ok, but on SS9 unfortunately we took only one spare and we had a problem with the tyres so one tyre on the front was worn. There was nothing we could do and we lost over 30 seconds on one stage, so I am really very disappointed about that.

“Tomorrow we will drive with the same speed we had today and hopefully we can make up some time.”

Michal Solowow said: “My Rally Sweden has been perfect. I’m enjoying the stages very much. They are very nice – really good stages.

“Apart from the fact we are not leading, everything else is ok! The car is good and tomorrow we keep going.”

Ott Tänak said: “We were pushing on the first stage [SS6], but in the middle of that stage we had a high-speed spin. We lost quite a lot of time there. Then on the second stage [SS7] we had another spin.

“I was pushing in the beginning but on the third stage we lost the studs on the tyres and then we just had one spare so it was pretty slippery.

“Tomorrow we’ll just carry on, try hard and see what we can do.