The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team is ready to start the competitive action tomorrow on Rally Sweden, where the drivers are facing a different challenge this year with less snow and ice than usual covering the gravel stages.
Car 69 (Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen)
This morning, the drivers completed shakedown runs over the Skalla stage close
to the service park in Torsby, with full gravel conditions. After completing
multiple runs over the stage, the team’s drivers occupied the top three
positions in the times, with Kalle Rovanperä fastest ahead of Sébastien Ogier
and Elfyn Evans. TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program driver Takamoto
Katsuta was sixth, and Jari-Matti Latvala was eighth in his privately-entered
Toyota Yaris WRC.
Modifications to the event’s itinerary meant that the traditional visit to the
trotting track in Karlstad this evening was run as an additional shakedown
alongside the ceremonial start, with the first competitive stage to now take
place tomorrow morning. Here there was another 1-2-3 for Toyota drivers, with
Latvala quickest in front of Ogier – who had Prince Carl Philip of Sweden as
his co-driver – and Rovanperä, with Evans fifth.
Quotes:
Kaj Lindström (Sporting Director)
“The conditions are going to be different to normal here, but the organisers
have done all that they can to make the event run as smoothly as possible. It
was a wise decision for the Karlstad stage tonight to be run as a second
shakedown: the spectators still had the chance to see the rally cars driving,
and we didn’t have to sacrifice any of the tyres we are allowed for the rally,
which will be a big thing to manage during the weekend. For this morning’s
shakedown, we had minus temperatures during the night and that made the surface
better than expected. That meant we could do three or four runs with each car,
and it was a good chance for the drivers to see how the tyres will behave on a
long section of gravel. The conditions are going to be a bit of a question mark
for everybody and I think it’s going to be a rally where you have to be smart
and manage the tyres in some areas to have a good result.”
Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 17)
“It’s not the winter wonderland here that we were hoping for, but the
organisers have done their best to try to make the event happen. There will be
some difficult sections waiting for us, but I hope that we can enjoy the
weekend. When you have consistent conditions – fully gravel or fully snow – you
can adapt easily, but when it’s changing every second corner, it’s quite
difficult. We were able to learn something in shakedown this morning, because
it was the first time we’ve run fully on gravel with the snow tyres. On the
first run, I took it carefully and I saved the tyres better than the others,
but I also lost too much time, so that’s a compromise we’ll have to find during
the weekend. It’s an unknown situation and the one who adapts the best is going
to win the rally.”
Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“Shakedown this morning was interesting. There was very high grip initially,
but as the stage went on, the grip started to deteriorate as we lost the studs
from the tyres, especially on the second run. The rally is going to be a bit
unpredictable, so we have to try and adapt to the conditions as best as we can,
and try to get the most out of the weekend. I think the biggest challenge is
going to be trying to identify where the slippery places are going to be,
especially towards the end of the stages where the grip from the studs will not
be as high. There’s a lot of new pacenotes as well. But we’ve prepared as well
as we can and hopefully we can have a good rally.”
Kalle Rovanperä (Driver car 69)
“In shakedown this morning it was quite difficult to drive in these conditions
for the first time, but the times were quite good and it was interesting to see
how the tyres and everything was changing. The most challenging part will be to
manage the speed in these mixed conditions, because you need to take care with
the tyres not to use the studs too much, but you also need to be flat-out to
set a good time. So it will be difficult and there will be lots to learn, but
I’m looking forward to it.”
What’s next?
The first stages of the rally – Hof-Finnskog and Finnskogen – will take place
in neighbouring Norway, before the brand new Nyckelvattnet test on the Swedish
side of the border. The day ends with the short Torsby Sprint stage finishing
on the edge of the service park. The same four stages will be run again on
Saturday.
Car 17 (Sébastien Ogier, Julien Ingrassia )
Car 33 (Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin)
Kalle Rovanperä