One of the big movers on Saturday’s leg, #esapekkalappi and #janneferm gradually made up ground on the leading crews to end day two in joint second position ahead of what promises to be an incredibly exciting climax on Sunday! Meanwhile, after rejoining the action to get more kilometres under their belt in the #c3wrc, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were also in impressive form for the Citroën Total World #rally Team, claiming no fewer than three stage wins as the battle among the leaders raged around them.
Featuring some genuine #rally #Sweden classics such as Hagfors and Vargåsen, day two’s eight stages and competitive distance of 126.18km promised to serve up an intense battle for the podium places, a fight that still looked very open this morning. The highlight of the leg would be the two passes over the iconic Colin’s Crest, always incredibly popular with local fans!
After starting the day fifth overall, 24.2s adrift of third position, #esapekkalappi and #janneferm quickly returned to the sparkling form they had shown yesterday evening as they consistently made up ground on the stages, closing the gap to the podium places to just 2.1s by the mid-leg service. Completely at one with their #c3wrc, they did even better in the afternoon. The Finnish pair grabbed third place at the start of the afternoon loop thanks to the second fastest time on Rämmen (SS12, 23.13km), just 2.1s off the pace. They immediately backed up their performance with the third fastest time on Hagfors (23.40km), 3.8s behind the leading time. They kept up the pressure right to the end of the leg to move into joint second place on the final stage, held after nightfall! A decidedly positive day that leaves them with a very realistic chance of finishing on the podium tomorrow.
Having rejoined today looking purely to run in-competition testing, work on the set-up and continue to get used to the #c3wrc, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia nonetheless claimed three stage wins (SS10 , SS11 and SS14) in their new 2019 car. Yet further evidence of Citroën’s competitiveness this weekend, when the road conditions permitted.
Tomorrow’s final leg will see the Citroën Total World #rally Team crews complete two passes on the Likenäs stage and contest the Torsby Power Stage, covering a competitive distance of just over fifty kilometres. The same stages on which #esapekkalappi was in blistering form last year, when he won two out the final three speed tests…
Further information in the press release to download
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