The Citroën DS3 WRCs move up the classification

The Citroën Total World Rally Team drivers took advantage of more favourable starting positions this morning to gain places in the overall classification of Rally Sweden. Sébastien Ogier and Sébastien Loeb are now in the top 6 after the fourth loop with eleven out of the twenty-two stages completed.

Rally Sweden, often run in extreme conditions, is the only true winter event on the world championship calendar. At 08h00, as the sun rose on the service park, the temperature was -26°C!

Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia, who were sixth overall this morning, started fifth on the road in front of Henning Solberg who was fifteen minutes late leaving the service park: “Apart from the first stage that was pretty slippery, the route is much nicer today,” commented Ogier. “We’re enjoying ourselves. With less snow and more ice the tyres are working better even if it’s so cold they’re still hard! We’re not taking any risks. But I don’t know if the leaders will be able to keep up such a pace till the end. Frankly, I’d be amazed!”

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena started the morning in ninth place. They took advantage of the retirements of Henning Solberg (roll) and Eywind Brynildsen (engine) plus the fastest time in Lesjofors (SS8) to move up to sixth place: “When I set the quickest time in the first stage, I knew I wouldn’t have to do a lot of sweeping like yesterday,” admitted Loeb. “Then we had a puncture and we had to prize off the tyre. There’s not much more at stake. We’re going to continue racing, and maybe we’ll try out some new solutions for the future.”

Petter Solberg set the quickest times in Sagen (SS9) and Varmullsasen (SS11), and closed the gap to the first two in the overall classification. At the end of the first loop, the Norwegian was in third place despite being hit 20 seconds worth of penalties.

Kimi Raïkkönen, also entered in a Citroën DS3 WRC prepared by Citroën Racing Technologies, got into the top 10 and was in ninth spot at the halfway mark.

After a 30-minute service stop, the crews will set off again for their second passage through the day’s loop. They will return to the service park at 17h12 before competing in the super special in Karlstad at 20h00.