The 2019 Rally Sweden (also known as the Rally Sweden 2019) ( sv, Svenska Rallyt 2019) was a

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...

event for

rally cars Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sports ...

that was held over four days between 14 and 17 February 2019. It marked the sixty-seventh running of

Rally Sweden The Rally Sweden ( sv, Svenska rallyt), formerly the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, ...

and was the second round of the 2019 World Rally Championship. It was also the second round of the

World Rally Championship-2 The FIA WRC2 (previously also known as World Rally Championship 2 and WRC 2), is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the main class and crews usually compete immediately ...

and the newly created WRC-2 Pro class, and the first round of the

Junior World Rally Championship The FIA Junior WRC, also known as JWRC and previously known as Junior World Rally Championship, is an international rallying competition restricted to drivers under 29 years old. The championship currently consists of five select rallies of th ...

. The 2019 event was based in the town of

Torsby Torsby () is a locality and the seat of Torsby Municipality in Värmland County, Sweden with 4,049 inhabitants in 2010. Fortum Ski Tunnel Torsby, the world's longest ski tunnel, is located in Torsby. Notable people * Football manager Sven- ...

Värmland County Värmland County (''Värmlands län'') is a county or '' län'' in west central Sweden. It borders the Swedish counties of Dalarna, Örebro and Västra Götaland, as well as the Norwegian counties of Viken and Innlandet to the west. Prince C ...

and consists of nineteen special stages. The rally covered a total competitive distance of .

Thierry Neuville Thierry Jean Neuville (born 16 June 1988) is a Belgian rally driver who is competing in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. During his career, he has finished as runner-up in the drivers' championship five times (2013, 2016–2 ...

and

Nicolas Gilsoul Nicolas Gilsoul (born 5 February 1982) is a Belgian rally co-driver. He is the former co-driver for Thierry Neuville.

were the defending rally winners. Their team, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, were the defending manufacturers' winners. Takamoto Katsuta and Marko Salminen were the defending winners in the World Rally Championship-2 category.

Denis Rådström Denis may refer to: People * Saint Denis of Paris, 3rd-century Christian martyr and first bishop of Paris * Denis the Areopagite, Biblical figure * Denis, son of Ampud (died 1236), baron in the Kingdom of Hungary * Denis the Carthusian (1402–1 ...

and Johan Johansson were the reigning

World Rally Championship-3 The FIA WRC3 is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after WRC2 entrants. Entry into WRC3 is limited to cars th ...

and defending

winners, but didn't defend their WRC-3 title as the category was discontinued in 2019.

Ott Tänak Ott Tänak (; born 15 October 1987) is an Estonian rally driver and the 2019 World Rally Champion. He is currently teamed with Martin Järveoja and is competing for Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT. Tänak achieved his maiden drivers' world title in ...

and

Martin Järveoja Martin Järveoja (; born 18 August 1987) is an Estonian rally co-driver. He is currently teamed with Ott Tänak and is competing for Hyundai in the World Rally Championship. Rally career He is the son of Estonian politician Toomas Järveoja, an ...

became the fourth non-Nordic crew to win the event. Their team,

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT is a World Rally Championship (WRC) team based in Finland that serves as Toyota's official factory team. Its team principal is former WRC driver Jari-Matti Latvala. The team made its début during the 2017 season, where ...

, were the manufacturers' winners. The Citroën Total crew of

Mads Østberg Mads Østberg (born 11 October 1987) is a Norwegian rally driver. His co-driver is Torstein Eriksen. Career Østberg competed in his first rally in 2004. His first World Rally Championship event was the 2006 Swedish Rally, in which he finishe ...

and

Torstein Eriksen Torstein Eriksen (born 29 April 1990) is a rallying co-driver from Norway. He is currently teamed with Andreas Mikkelsen and is competing for Toksport WRT in the World Rally Championship-2. Rally career Torstein Eriksen began his Rallying, rall ...

took the victory in the WRC-2 Pro category, while

Ole Christian Veiby Ole Christian Veiby is a professional rally driver from Norway driving for Hyundai Motorsport in the WRC-2 category of the World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition ...

and Jonas Andersson won the wider WRC-2 class, finishing first in the combined WRC-2 category. This marked the first R5 class victory in the WRC for the new Volkswagen Polo GTI R5. The first round of the J-WRC championship was taken by

Tom Kristensson Tom Krister Kristensson (born 30 April 1991) is a Swedish rally driver, who drives in the Junior World Rally Championship. He is originally from Lund, but now lives in Hörby. In 2016 and 2017, Kristensson competed in the ADAC Opel Rallye Cu ...

and Henrik Appelskog crew in their maiden appearances.

Jari-Matti Latvala Jari-Matti Latvala (born 3 April 1985) is a Finnish rally driver who has competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC). His co-driver for most of his career was Miikka Anttila, who co-drove for Latvala between the 2003 Rallye Deutschland and 2019 ...

surpassed the record for most starts in the history of the World Rally Championship with his 197th start. The previous record was set by Carlos Sainz, with 196 starts.

Background

Championship standings prior to the event

Defending world champions

Sébastien Ogier Sébastien Ogier (born 17 December 1983) is a French rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC), who is teamed with the co-driver Julien Ingrassia. He has won the World Rally Drivers' Champion ...

and

Julien Ingrassia Julien Ingrassia (born 26 November 1979) is a retired French rally co-driver. Working with Sébastien Ogier, he became World Rally Champion in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 with Volkswagen Motorsport, 2017 and 2018 with M-Sport World Rally Team, ...

entered the round with an eight-point lead over the defending rally winners

and

Nicolas Gilsoul Nicolas Gilsoul (born 5 February 1982) is a Belgian rally co-driver. He is the former co-driver for Thierry Neuville.

and

were third, a further four points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT held a five-point lead over

Citroën World Rally Team The Citroën Total World Rally Team was the Citroën factory backed entry into the World Rally Championship, run by Citroën Racing. History 1990–1998 seasons The Citroën ZX Rally raid won the Rally raid Constructors' Championship in 1993, 1 ...

and the defending manufacturers' champions

. In the newly created World Rally Championship-2 Pro standings,

Gus Greensmith Fergus "Gus" Greensmith (born 26 December 1996) is a British rally driver. Rally career Greensmith's family owns fuel and lubricants distributor Crown Oil. A former youth goalkeeper for Manchester City F.C. and karter before moving into the r ...

and Elliott Edmondson held a seven-point lead ahead of

Kalle Rovanperä Kalle Rovanperä (; born 1 October 2000 in Jyväskylä) is a Finnish professional rally driver, who competes in the World Rally Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, alongside co-driver Jonne Halttunen. He is the reigning World Champion. ...

and

Jonne Halttunen Jonne Halttunen (born 13 December 1985) is a Finnish rally co-driver. Currently, he is the co-driver of Kalle Rovanperä, driving the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. Previously, they represented Škoda Motorsport to participate in the World Rally Champi ...

in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively. In the teams' championship,

M-Sport Ford WRT The M-Sport Ford World Rally Team (formerly M-Sport World Rally Team, Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team and Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team) is the privately run World Rally Championship team of M-Sport, the firm run by Malcolm Wilson that was previ ...

led

Škoda Motorsport Škoda Motorsport is the division of Czech car manufacturer Škoda Auto responsible for motorsport activities. The team had competed as a manufacturer in the World Rally Championship between 1999 and 2005 and Intercontinental Rally Challenge (be ...

by seven points. In the World Rally Championship-2 standings,

Yoann Bonato Yoann Bonato (born 13 May 1983) is a French rally driver. He currently competes in the French Rally Championship and the WRC-2, the premier support category of the World Rally Championship, with customer Citroën team CHL Sport Auto. He also ...

and Benjamin Boulloud led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by seven points respectively.

Adrien Fourmaux Adrien Fourmaux (born 3 May 1995) is a French rally driver. Currently, He drives for M-Sport Ford in the WRC-RC1 category. Rally career After winning the Junior category of the 2018 French Rally Championship, Adrien Fourmaux made his WRC deb ...

and Renaud Jamoul were second, with

and Jonas Andersson in third in each standings, another slender three points behind.

Entry list

The following crews were entered into the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and WRC-2 Pro, the Junior World Rally Championship, and

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

entries not registered to score points in any championship. A total of sixty-two entries were received, with fourteen crews entered with World Rally Cars and twenty-three entered the World Rally Championship-2; of these, five were nominated to score points in the Pro class. A further thirteen entries were received for the Junior World Rally Championship.

Route

The route of the 2019 rally is made up of in competitive stages, some longer than the 2018 event. The Rämmen stage will return replace the Torntorp stage. Rämmen is due to be run as SS9 and SS12 and will run in the opposite direction to previous years.

Itinerary

All dates and times are

CET CET or cet may refer to: Places * Cet, Albania * Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus * Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England Arts, entertainment, and media * Comcast En ...

(

UTC+1 UTC+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time *West Africa Time *Western European Summer Time **B ...

Report

World Rally Cars

Being first on the road meant

and

have to endure changeable conditions and unpredictable grip. As it turned out, it is highly risky. The six-time World Champions went off the road on Svullrya and stuck in the snowbank, which forced them to retire from the first leg. The other major victim was

and

Miikka Anttila Miikka Anttila (born 10 September 1972) is a Finnish rally co-driver, currently teaming with Jari-Matti Latvala at Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT. Anttila has previously served alongside such drivers as Mikko Hirvonen, Janne Tuohino and Kosti Kataja ...

crew, who went wide over a crest on the final stage of Friday and cost them nearly twenty-four minutes to get unstuck. They chose to run under Rally2 regulation so that they reduced the time loss to ten minutes. The second leg of the rally appeared to be a total disaster for

Teemu Suninen Teemu Suninen (born February 1, 1994) is a Finnish rally driver. Suninen was driving for Malcolm Wilson's M-Sport WRT in WRC between 2017 and 2021. His manager is Timo Jouhki. Rally career Suninen won the WRC-3 class in the 2014 Rally Finl ...

and Marko Salminen. Having led a rally for the first time ever, they beached their Fiesta at a left-hand corner, which dropped them down to eighth. Worse still, at the afternoon loop, they hit a tree and damaged their roll cage, which forced them to retire from the day. Following the retirement of Suninen and Salminen,

and

were comfortable in the lead. Eventually, The Estonian crew comfortably took their first snow-surfaced rally victory. With the win, they led in both the drivers' and co-drivers' standings for the first time ever in their career by seven points. Their team, defending manufacturers' champions

also led the championship by one point.

Esapekka Lappi Esapekka Lappi (born 17 January 1991) is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2012 Finnish Rally Champion, 2014 European Rally Champion and the 2016 WRC-2 Champion. Career 2012 Lappi won the 2012 Finnish Rally Championship with Ford Fiesta S200 ...

and

Janne Ferm Janne Ferm (born 29 August 1980) is a Finnish rally co-driver. He is currently teamed with Esapekka Lappi and is competing for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT in the World Rally Championship. Rally career Janne Ferm began his rally career in 2007, ...

crew managed to keep themselves ahead of

and

Nicolas Gilsoul Nicolas Gilsoul (born 5 February 1982) is a Belgian rally co-driver. He is the former co-driver for Thierry Neuville.

with just a three seconds of advantage.

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

World Rally Championship-2 Pro

Classification

Special stages

Results in bold denote first in the RC2 class, the class which both the WRC-2 Pro and WRC-2 championships run to.

Championship standings

World Rally Championship-2

Classification

Special stages

Results in bold denote first in the RC2 class, the class which both the WRC-2 Pro and WRC-2 championships run to.

Championship standings

Junior World Rally Championship

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

Notes

References

External links

* * 2019

i
''e-wrc website''
* Th
official website
of the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rally Sweden, 2019 Sweden 2019 in Swedish motorsport February 2019 sports events in Sweden

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