The 4th stage of the Swedish rally was marked this Friday by the retirements of the reigning double world champion Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) and the double winner of the event Ott Tänak (Hyundai).
The Estonian hit a wall of snow which damaged the front of his car. He was able to leave but at low speed and was almost hit by Adrien Fourmaux (M-Sport/Ford) who was following him, before stopping definitively. “It went very close… We were in a very fast corner, flat out, at almost 180 km/h,” explained the Frenchman at the finish of the special.
After the retirements of the two main favorites, it was the Japanese Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) who took control of the rally at midday, ahead of the Finn Esapekka Lappi (Hyundai) and the Briton Elfyn Evans (Toyota).
Fourmaux is in fourth position ahead of Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), leader of the world championship after his success in Monte-Carlo at the end of January, who had to open the road and is 40 seconds behind the leader.