Sweden WRC: Evans in control with two stages left
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans has extended his Rally Sweden lead to 16.9 seconds after winning all three of Saturday morning’s stages.
Evans started the day with an 8.5s advantage over the Hyundai of Ott Tanak but managed to double the gap, capitalising on the tricky terrain in the warmer weather.
With confirmation that Sunday’s first running of the Likenas stage will not go ahead due to the unusually temperate conditions, Tanak has less than 25 kilometres to catch Sweden’s runaway leader.
Behind the leading duo Evan’s Toyota teammates Kalle Rovanpera and Sebastien Ogier continued to battle for third position, with Ogier closing the gap to the nineteen-year-old to a tenth of a second on the day’s opening stage.
The six-time champion then went on to eclipse Rovanpera on Finnskogen to take the position after a set-up change - but a set-up change of his own for Rovanpera to protect his tyres allowed the Finn to take back third by 1.3s in the next stage.
M-Sport’s Esapekka Lappi held on to fifth ahead of Monte Carlo Rally winner Thierry Neuville despite a small mistake on Nykelvattnet, meaning he goes into the afternoon five seconds ahead of the Hyundai driver.
Craig Breen remains in seventh in his first WRC outing of 2020, ahead of the second M-Sport of Teemu Suninen.
Suninen is 25s down on the Irishman after a difficult morning in the unpredictable conditions.
Takamoto Katsuta is ninth in the third Toyota while Jari-Matti Latvala retired his privateer Toyota entry before Saturday’s running due to engine issues.
WRC3 leader Jari Huttunen sits in tenth, while Mads Ostberg is the WRC2 frontrunner in twelfth.
Sweden WRC: Evans leads Tanak after Friday stages
Sweden WRC: Evans seals first win with Toyota
Holden race cars sell at auction
Scott Pye's Albert Park-winning Commodore was one of a number of significant Holdens to go under the hammer over the weekend.
Reborn TGM Super Formula team announces two-car 2023 entry
The former Team Goh outfit has been relaunched as 'TGM Grand Prix' ahead of the 2023 Super Formula season.
Ellis to replace injured Auer for Bathurst 12 Hour
Philip Ellis will make his Bathurst 12 Hour debut this week as a stand-in for the injured Lucas Auer.
Despite heroic comeback, Corvette missing speed at Daytona
Corvette Racing came from two laps down to finish second in class at the Rolex 24 Hours but lost out in the final shootout to a quicker Mercedes.
How fired-up Ogier became the WRC's ultimate Monte master
He may only be contesting a part-time campaign in the World Rally Championship these days, but Sebastien Ogier underlined that he's lost none of his speed in the 2023 season opener. Storming to yet another victory on the Monte Carlo Rally, the eight-time world champion rewrote the history books again as Toyota served notice of its intentions with a crushing 1-2
How Lancia pulled off its famous Monte Carlo giantkilling
Audi should have been invincible in the snowy conditions that typically greeted the World Rally Championship paddock in Monte Carlo. But unexpectedly warm weather for the 1983 season opener, combined with some left-field thinking from the Lancia crew turned the tables. Forty years on, team boss Cesare Fiorio reflects on a smash and grab.
Why M-Sport has pinned all its efforts on a WRC reunion
M-Sport had a disastrous 2022 with its Rally1 Ford Pumas following Sebastien Loeb’s first-time-out win on the Monte. But now things are looking up with 2019 world champion Ott Tanak leading its attack, and the Cumbrian operation has optimism that it can challenge for a first title since Sebastien Ogier's departure at the end of 2018
The contenders seeking to take Rovanpera's WRC crown
As Kalle Rovanpera begins his World Rally Championship title defence in Monte Carlo, the Finn knows he has a target on his back. But who is best placed to knock the Toyota ace off his perch?
Why Rovanpera is anticipating a fight to defend his WRC title
Question: what could be harder than becoming the youngest-ever World Rally champion? Answer: becoming the youngest-ever two-time World Rally champion. That's quite the challenge facing Toyota's Kalle Rovanpera in 2022, particularly against rejuvenated opposition in the second year of the WRC's hybrid regulations.
From F1 to WRC: Why Hyundai's new boss could be an inspired signing
OPINION: New Hyundai rally team boss Cyril Abiteboul admits he’s got a lot to learn, but his F1 experience and evident strengths could mean he turns out to be an inspired choice.
The ultimate rally car project the WRC is glad COVID killed
Toyota was unstoppable in the 2021 World Rally Championship, with an excellent 75% strike rate from 12 rallies. But in a scary proposition for its rivals, the Japanese marque had built a car for the final year of the previous regulations set which it believes was much faster and could feasibly have crushed the opposition completely. Here the story of its mothballed world-beater.
Motorsport.com writers' most memorable moments of 2022
The season just gone was a memorable one for many of our staff writers, who are fortunate enough to cover motorsport around the world. Here are our picks of the best (and in some cases, most eventful) from 2022.
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.