Hyundai Aiming For More Success

Three experienced crews will be representing Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid. Two-time event winners Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja travel to Sweden following a consistent performance at Rallye Monte-Carlo to compete alongside Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe, who are looking to add to their win tally following victory at the season-opener.

Esapekka Lappi will be back behind the wheel of the car for the first time since Rally Japan, as he kicks off his part-time campaign with co-driver Janne Ferm. All three crews have taken part in a pre-event test in Finland to acclimatise to the conditions they will be facing in Sweden.

The 300.1km-long itinerary of the event commences on Thursday with a 5.16km night stage, before heading into Friday’s seven stages. Saturday presents the longest total stage distance of the weekend, as 125.96km will be covered across the day’s seven stages. Three stages on Sunday close the weekend, with Umeå (10.08km) acting as the Power Stage. Across the event, there are four new stages and an altered running order in comparison to 2023.

In honour of the late Craig Breen’s dominance across SS2/5 Brattby at last year’s event, the 10.76km stage has been renamed as #42 Brattby. Breen took the victory on both runs of the stages by 3.8 and 7.8 seconds respectively.

Hyundai Motorsport President and Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “Rally Sweden is the only snow event on the calendar, and after the mild conditions at Rallye Monte-Carlo it is the first time we will experience this type of surface since last year. We want to continue the momentum from our victory at the first round, and we know we have the potential with Thierry and Ott based on their wins here previously. It will be Esapekka’s first event since Rally Japan last year and we are excited to see a new lease of life in him as he embarks on his part-time campaign. Sweden is special for us because of Craig’s podium here last year, so it’s really nice to see his memory honoured in the renaming of Brattby. We want the best finish possible, so to end the weekend on the top step is our ultimate aim.”

Set in and around the city of Umeå, Rally Sweden is the only snow event on the calendar, boasting a number of specific challenges for the crews to tackle. The most prominent are the snowbanks that line the stages. They can both help and hinder drivers – use them correctly and it can assist turning, but hit them too hard and they will engulf the car and halt a crew’s progress. The balance of speed and precision is therefore key when navigating the stages.

To add further difficulty, the roads of Rally Sweden are some of the fastest on the WRC schedule, with the studded tyres used at the event providing high levels of grip on the icy surface. Pair this with long days and night-time stages and it creates a gruelling and unpredictable test.

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