REVIEW: SWEDEN
Neuville guided his Hyundai i20 to victory through the forests of Sweden
Despite a Neuville win, it was still reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier that took the headlines in the snow of Sweden.
DAY ONE & TWO
As championship leader after a first round win in Monte Carlo, Ogier had the job of road sweeper in Sweden. This proved tough, as unploughed roads left a mass of fresh snow for Friday.
Neuville pounced on Ogier's misfortune, as did Hyundai team-mates Andreas Mikkelsen and Hayden Padden, as al enjoyed a drama free Friday to make it a 1-2-3 for the South Korean outfit. A Thursday Super Special victory for Ott Tanak along side stage wins for him and Craig Breen on Friday kept them close to the Hyundai trio.
Meanwhile, in WRC-2, local boy and reigning champion Pontus Tidemand was being upstaged by Takamoto Katsuta in his Tommi Makinen Racing Ford Fiesta, who managed to overpower the Skoda's of Tidemand and Ole Christian Veiby to take an early lead.
DAY THREE
Day three became a bit more eventful, as Breen cut the lead of Neuville to below five seconds, however the Belgian set four fastest stage times despite a paddle-shift issue to take the lead back to 22.7 seconds.
Things didn't go quite so well for Neuville's team-mates. A spin for Mikkelsen and a mistake with the set up for Padden saw them fall to third and fourth respectively.
Ogier's troubles were worsened. Still the first car on the road, the historic and national championships running on Friday meant he had to contend with deep and narrow ruts, making the road near undriveable as he had to fight to keep his Fiesta out of the ruts and on the road.
More drama occurred further back however. After putting the nose of his Citroen in a snow bank on stage 13, Kris Meeke was caught by Tanak. The Estonian tried to pass on a narrow section of stage but the two collided, forcing Tanak into a ditch and Meeke out of the rally.
It was a day for the Japanese in WRC-2. Katsuta won five of the eight stages, while Hiroki Arai won one. Tidemand did win the opening stage of the day to reclaim top spot but it was soon back in the hands of Katsuta, who had a 12.2 second advantage heading into the final day.
DAY FOUR
Neuville wrapped up victory by 19.8 seconds on the final day, with Breen cutting it to 14.8 at one point but he was made to wait for his first WRC win. Mikkelsen took the third and final step of the podium, while Esapekka Lappi leapfrogged Padden to take fourth and the New Zealander held onto fifth.
However, the headlines went to 11th placed Ogier. With the reverse starting order still leaving Ogier as road sweep, he and M-Sport used a loophole in the rules.
Clocking both Ogier and Elfyn Evans into the stage late meant each driver would be given a time penalty but a better starting position. The penalty moved Ogier into the final point- scoring position of 10th, while allowing him to take four points from the power stage, just loosing out to Lappi.
Katsuta's lead in WRC-2 dropped to 4.1 seconds as Tidemand beat him on two of the three stages, but he managed to hold on for the win. While disappointed not to win, an 18 point haul for Tidemand stands him in good stead for his title defence.