WRC Sweden: Evans snatches second as Lappi closes on win

Hyundai driver Lappi took no risks to complete Sunday morning’s stages safely with a 34-second lead over Evans, who jumped ahead of M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux (+48.1s).

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville remained in a comfortable fourth overall (+1m50.6s) as WRC2 leader Oliver Solberg rounded out the top five (+4m51.2s).

The new Super Sunday points format for 2024 added another storyline to proceedings with a sliding scale of points from seven to one on offer for the top seven drivers across the three stages.

After retiring from the rally lead on Friday, Rovanpera’s target was clear as he posted a blistering time to win stage 16 (Vastervik, 25.50km) which kicked off Sunday’s action.

The Finn was 6.3s faster than Toyota team-mate Evans, who managed to wrestle second overall from M-Sport’s Fourmaux.

On the verge of claiming a first WRC outright podium, Fourmaux’s mind was focussed on simply finishing the rally to achieve the milestone.

The Frenchman grazed a snowbank on the way to finishing 28s behind Rovanpera. The effort dropped him five seconds behind Evans in the overall standings.

“For us now, it’s just about consolidating the podium. We took the points for second yesterday. I didn’t take any risk,” said Fourmaux, who held more than minute advantage over Neuville.

Rally leader Lappi held a similar mindset to Fourmaux as he took no risk given the prospect of claiming a first WRC win since 2017.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

“I was crazy slow, but it is worth it,” said Lappi, whose rally lead was reduced to 53.2s.

Heading into stage 17, the penultimate of the rally, Rovanpera headed Evans, the returning Katsuta, Tanak, Neuville, Fourmaux and Lappi in the Super Sunday classification.

The final stage of the morning caught out Katsuta, who was fortunate to reach the stage end. A compression fired the GR Yaris at an angle and into a deep snowbank, spinning the car.

“Just at the end of the stage we had a huge bump, and I just lost the front and spun after the bump,” said Katsuta, who crashed out of second position on Saturday’s stage 10.

Evans won the stage by 4.1s but was crucially 10.3s quicker than Rovanpera to move to the top of the Super Sunday points classification with a stage remaining.

The Welshman revealed that a discussion was held with Rovanpera before the test to work out a strategy to allow him to leapfrog his team-mate.

Lappi let 19.2s slip to Evans to ensure he took a healthy advantage into the rally-concluding Power Stage this afternoon.

Evans headed the Sunday classification from Rovanpera, Neuville, Ott Tanak, Fourmaux, Katsuta and Lappi.