Craig Breen seems in a state of grace. After making good use of yesterday’s excellent starting position, today he is perfectly managing the potential he has this weekend and, with each passing test, he is getting closer to what would be the first success of his career in the WRC.
The Irishman won the 28.25 km Floda 1, i.e. the longest special stage of the day, stopping the clock in 12’11″5. The two rivals for the scratch, namely Kalle Rovanpera and Thierry Neuville, were very close to him, but slower by 8 tenths and 1 second respectively.
The most important thing for the Hyundai driver is to have pulled further ahead of Ott Tanak, who is now 5″7 away from the first position. In truth, the Estonian from M-Sport also stood out with an excellent performance, finishing fourth at 1″1, but the result was insufficient to make up time on his rival.
Rovanpera, on the other hand, complained about the understeer he was dealing with. It is not clear whether this is due to the double spare wheel, which gives the car greater weight, or to a wrong set-up.
What is certain is that the result obtained by the reigning world champion was enough to recover a position in the general classification. Rovanpera overtook his teammate Elfyn Evans and is now fourth.
Evans, on the other hand, will have to be very careful because Neuville is also in full comeback and is now threatening behind him. Between the two there is a margin of just 3″6 in favor of the Welshman of Toyota when there is still a special stage to go at the end of the morning lap.
WRC 2023 – Rally Sweden – General classification after SS10
Pos. Pilota/navigatore Vettura Tempo/distacco Classe 1 Breen/Fulton Hyundai i20 N Rally1 1h14’38”6 WRC 2 Tanak/Jarveoja Ford Puma Rally1 +5″7 WRC 3 Lapland/Ferm Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +19″5 WRC 4 Evans/ Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +31″6 WRC 5 Rovanpera/Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +32″8 WRC 6 Neuville/Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +36″4 WRC 7 Loubet/Gilsoul Ford Puma Rally1 +1’53″7 WRC 8 Solberg/Edmondson Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 +4’03″9 WRC2 9 Veiby/Erissen Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 +4’36″9 WRC2 10 Huttunen/Linnaketo Skoda Fabia R5 +4’50″5 WRC2
