Breen heads Rally Sweden field
Irish WRC racer Craig Breen has celebrated his first rally back in the Hyundai i20N colours by topping day two of Rally Sweden.
The former Ford M-Sport competitor tops his M-Sport replacement in Ott Tanak by 2.6s, taking three of seven stages.
In his second rally with Hyundai, Esapekka Lappi also impressed, climbing into P3 over Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanpera.
After taking the opening stage, Breen continued to press throughout the day, despite Tanak breathing down his neck.
“It’s definitely been one of my strongest days, last year I was usually upside down or stuck in a hedge somewhere,” quipped Breen, adding, “It’s music to my ears to be in the lead tonight. It’s the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and we’re all invited – I can’t wait for tomorrow!”
Despite finishing the day in P2 and being well within striking distance of Breen, Tanak was left irritated by not achieving maximum performance out of his hybrid despite pushing it to its limits.
Tanak is only a few seconds off the pace after day 2 of Rally Sweden, and will be breathing down Craig Breen’s neck over the third day
“Result-wise, we can definitely be quite happy. It’s much more than we expected coming here. But the thing is that we could be a lot better,” Tanak said, referring to the Puma’s overall performance.
Things didn’t go to the same plan for Rovanpera as yesterday, with his opening duties troubling him for grip for the most part.
The Finnish champ still managed to take out stages three and eight, but sits +23.9s off the leader in an unexpected flip after yesterday looking strong.
Takamoto Katsuta was having one his best WRC days in his first points scoring drive for Toyota, taking out stage 4 over Rovanpera, before trouble came on Stage 5.
The Japanese young gun went too hard into a sharp right hander and rolled over into a snowbank. The Yaris flipped back onto its wheels, but he lost a full minute to plummet down into P46, and retired with radiator issues.
Neuville’s difficult rally continued as he fought an illness, but still managed to finish the day in P6, +36.8s back over Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet, who is showing gradual improvement in the Ford Rally1 car.
Tomorrow’s 126.22km represents the longest day of the Rally Sweden schedule.
Rally Sweden standings: Day 2
- Breen 57:05.5
- Tanak +2.6
- Lappi +26.5
- Evans +31.1
- Rovanpera +36.8
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