WRC Day One: Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville tops Rally Sweden

Credit: Red Bull Content Pool

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville topped the timing boards after the first day of Rally Sweden, with Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera just behind by 4.3 seconds.

How the day unfolded…

Morning

M-Sport Ford’s Craig Breen had a day to forget as the Irishman crashed out in the second stage of the day. The Irish driver blasted through an right-hander and the rear left side of his car make contact with the snow bank, causing the car to snap around and crash head-first.

Fortunately, Breen was able to continue on but he had concerns his radiator was blocked with snow. However, with seven-kilometres left until the end of the stage, he had a similar incident around a left-hander – but he couldn’t recover his car from that crash.

Toyota’s Elfyn Evans ploughed on through the morning to put himself third in the timing sheets, despite car balance issues.

Rovanpera was the star driver in the opening day as the Finnish driver put in a wonderful morning to put himself at the top of the timing sheets, with 10 seconds in hand over Hyundai’s Oliver Solberg in second place.

Afternoon

Despite the car balancing issues, Evans managed to put in a blistering performance to put himself at the top of the timing sheets. The Welshman found time in the fourth stage of the day and put in a time that no other driver could match.

As a result, Evans temporarily took over the lead of the rally.

However, by the end of the first day, Neuville quickly climbed the leaderboard after securing a stage win in SS6 and a second place finish on the final stage.

As a result, Neuville had taken the lead of the rally ahead of Rovanpera by 4.3 seconds.

That’s all for the article: Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville tops Rally Sweden! What did you think of the first day of Rally Sweden? Let us know in the comments!

Read more WRC here:

• Belgium completes 2022 calendar
• WRC Promoter secures three-year extension with COSMOTE TV
• 2022 Rallye Monte-Carlo: Sebastian Loeb claims victory from Ogier
• Rallye Monte-Carlo: Day three

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.