In the end, Rally Sweden was one of the closest WRC rounds ever. Going into the final leg, only 10 seconds covered the top three drivers, leader Neuville, second place holder Mikkelsen, and the ever-threatening Ogier a close third.
Mikkelsen gave it all he had, bumping Neuville into second, but ominously though, Ogier had still taken some time out of the Norwegian. His mistake on the ultimate stage allowed Ogier to complete in the top podium spot while Neuville grabbed second.
Ah, but what might have been...
But in reality, Mikkelsen had the the rally pretty much in the bag on Saturday and it was an unforced error on SS14, while he held a 20+ second lead over his French teammate, that really sealed his fate. Andreas will be kicking himself over that lost opportunity.
And well he might - it's not often you have the world champ on the ropes, so letting him back in was not Mikkelsen's finest moment. The SS14 spin was lethal to his top podium ambition and the talented Norwegian will have to wait for another day to claim that elusive first WRC win.
It's worth remembering that Andreas led eleven stages, was third on seven stages and only ever out of the top three places on SS1 and SS2. An outstanding effort.
Hyundai's Neuville drove a fast but ultimately low risk weekend and while he led the rally for a stage, the i20's lesser level of development inhibited his ultimate competitiveness. Still, the Belgian was nevertheless delighted with his second place. What he demonstrated in Sweden was his legitimate claim to rally-winning aspirations, and there can be no doubt that another top podium spot is a matter of when, not if.
Ogier drove well for virtually the whole event, but even he admitted to mistakes and risk-taking which could well have cost him dearly. But the mentally tough Frenchman demonstrated that he's a deserving two-times world champion by fighting back when the chips were most assuredly down. Nobody can begrudge his success in Sweden.
It was surely not Citroen's finest hour. Both Meeke and Ostberg lost any chance of a podium with driver errors and in spite of some great times in the dying stages of the event, it wasn't enough to redeem the earlier mistakes. Meeke completed in seventh. Mads managed to pick up a point on the power stage to add to his meagre point for tenth fastest finisher, but Yves Matton must surely be feeling the heat for his team's latest lacklustre showing.
The Ford challenge was a mixed bag, M-Sport's two young guns there or thereabouts over the entire event. And apart from a couple of driver errors, their times showed that they are quickly becoming highly competitive at this level. Tanak's fourth place overall was the result of a fast and very much risk-averse outing for the Estonian, and Evans's sixth place doesn't really do justice to the times he was recording.
Nonetheless, Malcolm Wilson will be longing for some podium finishes from his drivers in the near future to escape from the doldrums the brand has spent the last couple of years drifting through.
Hyundai, on the other hand, emerged from the fray with a healthy sack-full of manufacturer's points thanks to lead driver Neuville and the up-and-coming Paddon, who filled in for the injured Dani Sordo. Between Thierry's 18 points and Hayden's 10 points, the Korean team finished with a better haul than any of the other manufacturer teams. Michel Nandan must still be grinning from ear to ear.
So, to the casualties...
And there were many. In fact, it's difficult to name a top-level driver who didn't have a moment that cost him a few precious seconds at least. But some fared worse than others...
And who better to start with than the ill-fated Robert Kubica. It wasn't all the Pole's fault though - he lost drive to the Fiesta's rear wheels on SS7 which did him no favours - but an earlier overshoot on SS3 was driver error and lost him time. As if that wasn't enough, at the start of SS19, the event stewards applied a five minute penalty to his accumulated time for turbo overboosting and Kubica finished the rally in 20th place.
WRC rookie Lorenzo Bertelli struggled with a Fiesta WRC with only front wheel drive available. The resulting times were hardly competitive and the young Italian made the decision to retire from the event following SS5. Rather than complete Sweden for the experience, he chose retirement as a means to circumvent the linked component regulations, allowing his team to make drivetrain changes prior to the next round in Mexico.
VW's Latvala challenged for the win as usual, but again fell short of his potential. A spin on SS14 cost the Finn 45 seconds. Then, while leading on SS9, his Polo R slid wide and it took eight and a half minutes to regain the road. SS14 again bit Jari-Matti with a spin that cost him another 45 seconds. Taking a leaf from Bertelli's playbook, the VW team retired J-ML prior to event's end, freeing the car to undergo rear-end changes for Mexico.
Hyundai's newest driver, Kevin Abbring, piloting Paddon's usual #20 ride, had his first taste of Sweden's bite on SS2, slipping off the road into snowdrift territory and losing a minute and a half. His excursion appeared to be due to bad visibility caused by his glasses steaming up. Although he drove a mostly competent and steady rally from then on, he dropped another minute and a half on SS15, finishing his first top level WRC event in 11th place.
Kris Meeke's rally was likely one he'd rather forget. The Irishman's event began with a spin on SS2 and the loss of thirty seconds. Then, on SS7 a more comprehensive prang saw him drop three minutes, compounding the earlier woes. He managed a quickest time in the latter stages of the rally as he sought to up his pace, but a spin on the power stage while fighting fellow Brit Evans for 6th place seemed to sum up his weekend. He took solace in the additional experience that finishing the Swedish rally afforded.
Ostberg sometimes doesn't seem to be able to catch a break. The Norwegian expected to do well on what is literally his home round of the WRC but it didn't transpire quite that way. His times in the early stages weren't really troubling the time-keepers and at SS7 he was sitting some nineteen seconds off the lead, complaining of transmission issues with his Citroen DS3. Despite that, by SS11 he was still fourth overall, but he was now more than a minute off the pace. Then an off on SS19, caused by a handbrake fault, resulted in a five minute loss. The unfortunate Mads finished a modest tenth.
Ford Fiesta pilot Elfyn Evans had a mixed weekend, showing good speed throughout the rally, punctuated by the occasional mishap. SS8 was his downfall though, when he slid off the route and onto a snowbank that stranded him for nearly two minutes. Without that, he would have led home teammate Tanak in fourth overall. The Brit can take solace in the fact that his was a competitive performance and just that single misdemeanor marred an otherwise promising effort. More to come from the Welshman.
The rest of the field, Paddon, Tanak and Neuville, drove well with few errors.
While we're on that subject, Paddon's performance was a standout one. This was his first Rally Sweden in a World Rally Car. The car he drove was Sordo's #8 machine and the setup was the Spaniard's, necessitating a change of driving style for the Kiwi. He was only able to complete a half day of testing in the car prior to the start. And the Swedish rally was just the eighth WRC top level drive that he's done. He's still five rallies short of completing his first season.
Congratulations Hayden and John and a fantastic fifth overall.
[Edit: On paragraph 6, I mistakenly used the word "won" when in fact, I meant "led". Fixed now, and thanks to the eagle-eyed readers who pointed out the error.]
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