Onto the final day then and ahead of the crews were two close to 30km stages and the shorter 8.6km powerstage. Adrien and Alex returned to the action and would open the road throughout the three stages. Elfyn held a small three second lead over his teammate Takamoto with Thierry a further three seconds away.
First up was SS16 Västervik 1 – 29.35 km and Takamoto was really fast winning the stage from Ott and Kalle. Elfyn was 7.5 seconds slower and dropped to second overall, now 4.5 seconds behind his teammate. Thierry remained third overall. Further down the standings Greg passed Oliver for eighth position.
After a short break and service, the crews returned to SS17 Västervik 2 – 29.35 km for a second run. The top three fastest were Elfyn, Thierry and Ott. Takamoto could only manage the same time as Ott which was 8.2 seconds slower than his teammate and fell back to second place, now 3.7 behind Elfyn. Elfyn was really quick on this one, beating Thierry by almost seven seconds. It was a fantastic drive for the Welshman to regain the lead.
The time had come to run the final stage, SS18 Umeå[Power Stage] – 8.62 km. Adrien set the early pace and Ott was unable to beat his teammates time. However, each driver that came through after Ott beat the previous best time and we ended up with the top five looking this way. Adrien secured a single point with fifth. Fourth was Kalle, Thierry third, Takamoto second and Elfyn taking not only top spot in the powerstage also setting the pace throughout Sunday as well and he’d also secured victory. It was a brilliant drive for him, and Scott and they’d secured victory in the most remarkable way, from opening the road throughout Friday’s stages yet still taking stage wins.
Let’s take a look at the final standings and hear from the drivers.
Final Overall Classification – Rally Sweden
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Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Elfyn Evans
“It’s been an amazing weekend. We led for a lot of the rally, but the margins were always tight and it was never really comfortable. This morning I got caught napping a bit in the first stage by Taka, who really made me fight for it, and thankfully we managed to turn it around and unlock good pace on the next stage. I’m very happy with the end result and to have won the Power Stage as well. It’s been a very good start to the season for us and we couldn’t really have dreamed of much better. Usually after a good Rallye Monte-Carlo it’s hard to score well in Sweden but the good conditions gave us a chance and I feel we made the most of it.”
Kalle Rovanperä
“Overall, it’s been a difficult weekend for me. We were trying to push hard but we could not have the pace or the performance that we wanted, even on this final day. It’s a big disappointment but this is the only snow rally in the season and now we need to focus on the next rally on gravel with a completely different tyre and work to be stronger there. I’ve been closely following the battle at the front and I’m really glad that both drivers could bring home the one-two and the maximum points for the team: well, done to Elfyn who’s done a really good job, and I’m proud of my friend Taka also.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“It’s been a really nice fight with Elfyn and with the Hyundai drivers not far behind us as well. It’s been a really intense battle for the whole rally and there was some pressure throughout, but I enjoyed it a lot. At the end, I’m happy to have done a good job for the team, to bring the car to the finish and score some good points. Well done to the team for this result and hats off to Elfyn, who did an amazing drive on the penultimate stage. Next time I will be ready to push more to try and take that victory. I was able to manage the speed through the whole weekend and this is giving me more confidence for the future and a good feeling for Kenya.”
Sami Pajari
“Overall, it has been a really enjoyable rally and it’s good to reach the finish without any big mistakes. It’s still quite disappointing what happened on Friday morning when the tyre came off the rim and we lost quite a lot of time, which then maybe gave us not such a good starting position for the next days. Still, I think we had some nice pace and some good moments, including some top-three stage times, and the feeling has been good. It’s been valuable learning and I’m grateful to the team for the support.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville
“We are happy to be on the podium, but nevertheless we are disappointed that we weren’t able to score the big points. We were still struggling today with the balance and tyre degradation. The feeling wasn’t there 100% even though we were improving, and it seems it has been better for our competitors than for us. Our first event in the upgraded car felt good, overall, the performance was there. It’s hard to really analyse everything as we saw the variation based on road position was crazy this weekend. You could be in the middle of the group and have the best conditions at some points or have the worst. We were in the game this weekend and that’s what counts.”
Round 02, Rally Sweden
13-16 February 2025
Photographer: Dufour Fabien
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Ott Tänak
“Friday was not the greatest day, but we were still very much fighting for the victory. On Saturday, we lost some time driving in a safer mode through the stages. This morning we tried to catch the leaders, but on the second loop the road conditions were still cleaning so much. I’m not sure we got the best out of the new car this weekend, but I would say when the car is working it’s nice to drive and we just have to put the package together now. Toyota has been very strong; they are doing a good job and it’s something we need to catch up with.”
Adrien Fourmaux
“We have been competitive all weekend so I would say the positive thing is we have the pace, but we need to avoid the mistakes and go from there. I am happy we could score at least one point in the Power Stage; it’s the bare minimum but it’s something so we didn’t come back with nothing. We are focused on the future – there are still 12 events and a lot to be done, so I will keep my head on my shoulders. Yesterday’s mistake will not happen again. Kenya is next and anything can happen, so I will be working a lot with the team to make it successful.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Mārtiņš Sesks
“That’s Rally Sweden done and dusted! I’m quite happy actually about our performance and our consistency. With our ‘safe speed’, we managed to get through the rally and collected some decent times as well. Especially on the second passes, where we were a bit more used to the road conditions, we were able to get some top-three times which was the big positive of the weekend.
“On some other stages we posted some competitive split times, so I think the good thing is that we can see we have the speed here and we can drive really fast in some circumstances. I think the big thing this weekend was the experience and to build some consistency for the future, and for the rest of the season to come this is a good start. I think it was quite a decent result.”
Grégoire Munster
“For sure, not the result we wanted here on Rally Sweden, but lots of positives to take home. We reached the finish without making any big mistakes; but we have some regrets from the first stages on Friday morning and the big-time loss there, which caused us to open the road on the following days.
“Still, we learned a lot and we’ve worked with the engineers on the set-up and have done some analysis and on-board comparisons to be able to keep improving. Although it doesn’t reflect in the stage times, we made some good improvements despite opening the road.”
Josh McErlean
“It’s been a really positive and strong weekend, the team’s done a fantastic job preparing the car and Eoin’s done a brilliant job on the notes. It’s been a real step forward since Monte-Carlo, we’ve shown some strong pace in terms of stage times and it’s something we can take forward with us. It’s given me huge confidence to say that I can actually fight with the top guys, and delivering top-five times has been really good to see.
“Honestly, it’s been really fun and so enjoyable to drive one of these cars on this surface and through these forests, it’s been simply incredible. I’m very humbled and appreciative of the opportunity. It was a shame with what happened today considering the pace we’ve been showing all weekend, we just ran a bit wide on a fast right-hander, got into the soft snow and it sucked us into the snowbank which stopped us in our tracks. The spectators did a fantastic job getting us out of there, so a big thanks to them and thanks to everyone supporting us this weekend. I’m really looking forward to Kenya next, it’s going to be a great adventure.”
Jourdan Serderidis
“Well, with so little experience on snow, it was a hard start on Friday, and we made some mistakes on setup. Then, we improved stage after stage, giving a better performance and having some fun! We took a lot of confidence in Umeå, and I am sure it will help us for the next events, Kenya and our national rally in Greece.”
Romet Jürgenson
“For our first ever WRC2 round, we’ve had a very good trouble-free event with a solid result on the board. We actually hit one of our targets already on Friday, when we were constantly in a good place pace wise compared to the fastest crews. There were definitely some difficult moments during the weekend, for example on Saturday, but now on Sunday in similar conditions we once again improved quite a lot. So, all in all, a very good start to the season. Big thanks to all the people at M-Sport for a good effort! Let’s go again soon!”
Oliver Solberg (WRC2 winner)
“It’s a fantastic feeling to win my third Rally Sweden in three years. It’s incredible. I love this event, these people and these roads, so to come home and win again is something very special.
“I have to say, this one was quite tough at times. The conditions were proper for the winter rally, we could see that with the beautiful blue sky and the incredible ice, but at the same time the road was changing a little bit. We were getting some ruts coming and you had to pick your line carefully at times. In the second stage this morning, I was steady. I felt it would have been easy to make a mistake there, so we took our times and brought the car home – and then went fastest on the last one. I love that Umeå stage, it’s so much fun!”
“This is what we wanted,” said Oliver. “We wanted to come here, to come to my home rally and put down a good result which would make a good start to the year. For me, this has been such a happy place to rally for the last few years and now it’s the same this season.
“The focus now is on moving forwards with the WRC2 title race. We want that championship this year.”
2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 2
| 1 | E. Evans | 61 |
| 2 | S. Ogier | 33 |
| 3 | K. Rovanperä | 31 |
| 4 | T. Neuville | 29 |
| 5 | O. Tänak | 26 |
| 6 | T. Katsuta | 25 |
| 7 | A. Fourmaux | 21 |
| 8 | M. Sesks | 8 |
| 9 | J. McErlean | 6 |
| 10 | S. Pajari | 6 |
2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 2
| 1 | Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team | 120 |
| 2 | Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team | 72 |
| 3 | M-Sport Ford World Rally Team | 25 |
| 4 | Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2 | 11 |
Summary
What an amazing rally! Elfyn and Scott put a fantastic drive together this weekend to take a second Rally Sweden victory. Seven stage wins showed the pace they had, even though they’d opened the road throughout Friday’s stages. This win has taken them firmly into the lead of the championship.
Takamoto and Aaron were incredibly quick as well all weekend with two stage wins. They’d also been quick all weekend. It was a fantastic performance which they should be very proud of. That first win is certainly coming.
The reigning world champions had a mixed bag of performance. They were not on the pace to run at the front of the field, but eventually dialled some performance into the car. This led to four stage wins and some pace that took him to the podium.
Looking ahead, the teams have a few weeks before Safari Rally Kenya next month.
