70. Rally Sweden 2023
9. 2. – 12. 2. 2023, Umeå • Rally Sweden AB • snow - ice 301.18 km • total distance including road sections - 1194.16 km • Other years
Info
SS18
"It obviously means a lot to me, to come into a new car and deliver to these guys [at M-Sport]. It's a big effort for them to fight against such big manufacturers. I am sure they are getting quite a bit of stress from me, but as long as it's delivering then we are all winning. It's great to be part of this team."
"That wasn't the plan, but I had no way of knowing. We're happy - it's been an incredible weekend and great to be back at the front again."
"It wasn't a good stage. I was a bit scared in the brakings and I was afraid to overshoot. We are here. It was an incredible weekend, a tough weekend, but a great weekend for the team overall. All the drivers did a good job and the car was fast. That's the positive from this weekend."
"I didn't want to take five points (to have a better road position in Mexico). For sure, there was a bit of a plan. I am sure the guys behind know our time now, so they can adjust their speed. Hopefully we will get at least a few points."
"It was pretty okay but the grip was quite mixed. It sums up the weekend really - it's not been easy, but of course we look forward to the next one now."
"Something stopped, so we went slowly to the end. We had a bit of smoke, but there was no fire."
Stopped
"I was just too early on the brakes in many places. I think the corners I did pretty well, but the brakings are always pretty challenging for me. The other guys can be faster."
"That jump is a nightmare for me - every time I ruin the bumper! I am happy to end the rally here. I had an amazing few days with a great team and a great car. It's sad because every time I start to be in the rhythm of the car, the rally ends!"
"It's fantastic - what a great feeling! It's been a long time since I won, and finally everything worked correct and I am really happy. Elliott did an amazing job and for sure it's been an amazing weekend - no mistakes and really consistent."
"It's been a fun battle. We came here for the win, that was the main target after finishing second last year, but we lost too much time on Friday and that made it difficult to come back. I think we have done a good job and it's been a pleasure to have Torstein in the car for the first time - he did a fantastic job."
"It's a really amazing feeling. A few times we had the chance for a podium last year but it was taken away. Now we managed it and the feeling is really nice. I am super grateful for all the people and the team who are pushing to make this happen - thank you to everyone."
"I can't say I've been happy with the pace - we were hoping for more. I guess I didn't give enough credit to the fact that it's a new car and a new team, so it takes a bit of time. We stayed out of trouble and we are lucky that we got a pretty good result from it."
"We are pretty happy with our weekend. I think the only thing that was not so good was the spin that we had on Friday. Apart from that, it was a very clean rally for me. Things are getting better and I am really looking forward to our next event."
"I was trying, but it was quite difficult to open the road. On Friday we had a good result in our hands with second position, but then we lost everything. We have to learn our lesson to do a better job next time."
SS17
Stopped at 7.1km
"Didn't expect it. I tried, it's not so easy for me, specially physically. Was losing quite a lot of time by being out of the line and being on the messy stuff. I'm really happy (about the time)."
"Should be okay. It's still a tricky stage but it feels okay at the moment."
"We made some changes to the car there. I was trying to manage the studs a little bit because towards the end of the stage it really quite difficult, but all okay."
"It should be enough for 10 kilometres. We need to stay without mistakes for the Power Stage."
"I had quite a good stage, I just feel that in second pass conditions I can not push so fast. It's a shame - it seems we don't have the pace that's needed."
"Pretty okay. We were really careful again, but let's see. The target is to try and score some [Power Stage] points. Based on the weekend, that's going to be a difficult target, but we'll try our best."
"It was a bit better, but I was quite careful again because we have nothing to play for. In a junction, the car went out of the ruts and I was a bit wide. I lost two or three seconds but nothing major."
"There's a lot of gravel in here, so I tried to be efficient and still manage the tyres. I'm sure they are fine."
"I went wide in a snowbank on the exit of the corner - the ruts were not holding the car in."
"A bit more gravel compared to the first pass. Not very easy but still very nice."
SS16
"Safely through the first stage of the day with the 2nd fastest time - maybe a bit careful, but no need for risks! Heading back to service now."
"Let's see what happens. Obviously our main goal is to maintain this position. I think I can be quicker in the second pass."
"It was a nice stage. I tried to push a bit on the narrow parts, but at the same time I was a bit careful in the beginning. It was a bit ballsy to go out without light pods, but it was just a few places I couldn't see properly."
"The beginning was okay, but in the middle I lost the brakes in one part and it was quite tricky to be honest."
"I tried to be as committed as I could, but in one or two places I was just too hesitant. We got through it cleanly with no mistakes and that's very important."
"I had a good stage but obviously Kalle was on four new studs, and I was only on two new. I should have better tyres for the next one, hopefully. It was a tricky stage and I didn't want to make any mistakes."
"Quite happy. On the narrow section I could have been a bit cleaner, but I have been struggling all weekend on the narrow technical sections. We had a small issue on the road section, it was a bit of a mess, but finally everything was fine on the stage. It was nothing too big."
"It's not too bad, the lights are okay with all the white of the snowbanks. If it was a dark forest in Wales it would be different, but here the vision is quite alright."
"I was too careful and I had a bad rhythm. It was too much!"
"We will try for Power Stage points. I know it's a tricky stage, but we will try."
"At the junction, I had a spin but I recovered it. The road is very slippery - so far this one has been the worst one to start in front."
"A very nice stage, I really like it. I had to check a few things but everything is fine."
SS15
"The competition is so high but we made no mistakes and we had good tyre wear. I think that was the key this afternoon. We're ready for tomorrow, the final day."
"We tried to the best that we could, but again in this one it's so difficult to get the car to do what I want. We're going to give our best tomorrow and see what happens."
"It was quite unfortunate what happened. I had planned for these two stages and we lost a full tyre on the previous one, so we had a full slick for this one. It was not easy."
"The speed has been okay, especially in the afternoon. But it doesn't help if you can't string three days together."
"Now it's been a case of getting through without issues. We sort of fell out of the battle after that spin and it's just a case of making no mistakes now."
"We messed up the afternoon with our tyre plan. There was not much I could do anymore in the last two stages."
"There was no doubt for us that we were attacking yesterday. Today we didn't have the best conditions, but we were able to post fast times. It's going to be a tough fight tomorrow with Kalle, nobody will give up."
"It's been a difficult day today. The conditions were tricky so I am happy to be at the end. We did some good things but I tried to be cautious now because I didn't want to make a mistake in the last one."
"I am happy to see that now everything is normal! I think we had a good day - it would have been a perfect weekend so far were it not for the mistake yesterday. We have one more day to go and I want to keep driving like this."
"These second loop conditions are something special, so it was good experience for me. It was very difficult, but we are here and we have some ideas to improve for the future."
SS14
"Quite tricky. I struggled a little bit with the high-speed section at the end, I was missing some confidence. We're still in the fight and we're here at the end."
"It delaminated on the straight..."
"The driving was really good on the previous stage as well and I think we had a good tyre plan. We're just keeping the momentum."
"Pretty slippery to be honest - I took it fairly steady. It's just a case of getting through now."
"Thierry must have better tyres than us. I had a clean stage but the rear tyres are completely gone and I couldn't do much more."
"We're going to push. As long as the rally isn't over, there's still an opportunity for us to step up onto the podium. It wasn't easy in there."
"This afternoon the pace is better. It was tricky with the ruts and I stuggled a bit with my lines, but it's all fine. We'll continue and keep going."
"It's not been easy. I got lost a couple of times because I am not used to the stages at night. It was very slippery eith a lot of ruts, but we are here."
"Very slippery compared to the morning loop. We have quite worn tyres right now, so not so much grip."
SS13
"We had a small vibration on the straight before and I thought there was ice or something on the tyre, then it disappeared. It seems the tyre delaminated and I approached the final corner but I had no grip. It's never happened before."
"No idea, I don't know what we've dropped. It was a delamination in a straight line."
"We had to go slow there, but other than that I kept the old tyres from the previous stage. It was hard in the end, but that was the best we could do. It was a killer stage for the tyres."
Puncture
in snowbank
"It was definitely smoother than yesterday, but it's so extreme on the tyres. I'm trying to be as gentle as possible but the conditions are pretty tricky in here."
"It was quite rough, but not as rough as I expected. The line is a bit of a mess but I can't complain - I am just driving and enjoying."
"Lots and lots of gravel. By the end of the stage the tyres were moving a lot."
Spin
SS12
"I got caught in a snowbank near the start and we were quite lucky to get out of it. I'm happy with everything else - everything's fine."
in snowbank
"Nothing has changed - it will be a long loop and we need to manage through it. There's a long way to go this afternoon."
"It was clean. The start was really bad - I think I chose the wrong line, so I had a lot of wheel spin - but the rest was good."
"I just lost the rear on the way in, I couldn't recover it and we hit the snowbank. I have to go."
"Definitely a bit better than yesterday. Hopefully we can have a good afternoon - the tyres are going to be really worn out nut we will give it our best and try to have a clean run."
"In some places the gravel is coming out and the grip is better. The road will get faster, but we are trying."
Spin
"I am struggling with the rear, especially near the start. It was very difficult, but we are here eventually."
"In some of the braking points it's crazy how the car is starting to shake."
"There is no grip - it's quite a crazy feeling. But this is what Kalle dealt with yesterday."
SS11
"That was in the best condition for sure. We made a few small mistakes, seem to be struggling against the Škodas."
"I think we will try to drive as fast as we can, but not take too much risks. This stage was really good and a pleasure to drive."
"Unfortunately it's one of those instances where I never got to do this stage last year and this was my first time discovering it. There were places I was a little too cautious and hesitant, but it's absolutely fine. The car worked well in the second pass yesterday so I'm absolutely full of confidence."
"This one was better. It's not so fast and we were able to manage it a bit better."
"Pretty okay, it was good. For sure, we lost too much time on the first two but this one was already better. This afternoon will be very demanding for the tyres."
"I'm not surprised at all. It's not working as it should, just the overall balance. I'm struggling a lot to be honest and I don't feel comfortable."
"Now we made some new changes on the road section and finally it was a bit better. In the beginning I could have been better - the grip was really low and I was sliding a bit too much in places."
"I tried to do a good stage and enjoy a bit. It's a bit more of a technical stage and much more enjoyable than the other stages this morning."
"I struggled to be clean on my driving, but it's okay. The pace notes are good, it's just that in some parts I am too cautious."
"This was a very nice stage, nice and flowing. I am trying to bring back the confidence from yesterday and I'm really enjoying the driving. Let's continue like this."
"This one is definitely the best conditions of the loop. The conditions are perfect and I really enjoyed this stage. This one should be okay on the next pass but other two will be quite messy."
SS10
Stopped at 21.7km
"Struggling a lot. Specially on first passes because we don't have the "correct seat". We're not really driving in snowy conditions like here (at the finish line). All my energy goes to just staying on the road. The less the car moves on the road, the easier it is."
"We are trying. This was not easy at all - so rutted in some places, but all okay."
"This one is a nice stage, it's nice to drive here."
"We spun. For me, it felt like there were some big ruts from before the rally and suddenly I just lost the rear. We spun pretty much at full speed in fifth gear."
"This was one of the most difficult stages I've done surface-wise. I took it very steady because it's so easy to do a mistake. We need to be clever."
"That was nice. Doing 200kph through the forest, it's what dreams are made of. I'm just making the most of it and trying to preserve the [tyre] studs where I can."
Spin
"It feels very uncomfortable already, even in the very easy places. It's not much fun but I am trying hard."
"I am just too slow. On the fast sections, I can not push how I want to. We need to go back in the direction we were in yesterday."
"We have to look now and see what happens in the next one. I didn't have a good feeling to be honest, so it's not really a surprise."
"The car is really bad to drive and I am losing so much time everywhere. I don't know if we made a mistake on the set-up, or if it's just not good in these conditions. I am understeering everywhere and fighting the car all the time."
"It was okay but it's hard to know how much you can attack. There's a lot of fresh snow in places and we had a good run, but maybe in some of the faster places I was not attacking enough."
"It was a bit better, so let's continue."
"This stage, for our road position, was still okay. But the second pass is going to be messy. So far, so good - we are enjoying the pace and I am happy with my driving."
SS9
Stuck in snowbank
"It was a bit disturbing, but I don't know the stage. I was too careful in a few places and I think we lost a bit."
"It's just crazy fast in there, you have time for a coffee on the long straights! It's nice to start the day nice and smoothly."
"The tea party's alive! Fair play to the Hyundai engine boys, they've done a cracking job. That was very much a 'power' stage. We're in a safe rhythm."
"It's difficult. I don't have this kind of feeling to attack, but I am trying to manage. I guess we need to be connected more."
"Too safe. I never touched the banks, just too slow. We made a small change overnight, but nothing big."
"It was not so good. You need a lot of top speed on this stage - it's fifth gear all the time. I changed something on the set-up of the suspension for today and I need to get used to it a bit more. Not the perfect stage, but not too bad."
"It feels better, definitely, but I'm still not trusting the brakes. I'm always braking too early and I can't find a good balance. The road is going to be quicker and quicker, I'm not sure this will be enough."
"I wasn't very in at the beginning of the stage. I struggled a bit with the grip because it's very different to yesterday. Not very good driving on my side."
"This was nice and enjoyable. A proper wake-up."
"We are here to drive and get more experience. It's very, very cold outside - before the stage I was almost freezing!"
SS8
"Before the last jump I went too wide and I was all over the place. The jump was quite big! Now we look forward to tomorrow, hopefully a smooth day. Let's have the mechanics check everything for tomorrow."
"It's been okay. Pajari has been very quick, hunting me down. Otherwise I have just been driving clean with no risks and not making any mistakes. It could be better, but it's been a good day."
"I don't know what is going on - the car simply was not turning in the junctions. I was not expecting this - it's never happened before to me before."
"Definitely one of my strongest days. Last year I was usually upside down or stuck in a hedge somewhere, so it's music to my ears to be in the lead tonight. It's the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and we're all invited - I can't wait!"
"On the first braking point I missed the junction. It's like that, unfortunately. After that it was not so bad. I think we can be happy with our progress."
"It's not been too bad in the end, but I feel there is much more to come if we can make all things close to perfect. We need to think overnight and try to be better tomorrow. I think in this position you shouldn't do any big changes, but we will definitely try something."
"Result-wise, we can definitely be quite happy. It's much more than we expectred coming here. But the thing is that we could be a lot better."
"Pretty okay really, I just didn't have the best run. It was a better afternoon but not so good in here. I wouldn't go so far as saying we're confident after today, but we're definitely moving in the right direction."
"It has been a very difficult day for us. Obviously the road conditions weren't really nice for us and we tried to keep up with Kalle and Elfyn. We did what we could do."
SS7
"We found the leak, seems to be working now."
"I tried to manage the tyres as best I could. I had so much understeer in the second half of the stage but it was a relatively clean run."
"We don't have hybrid. It's not the best on this type of stage, but it's like that."
"I think I enjoyed the morning more than the afternon. It's quite demanding for the tyres in this one, especially. I need to think a bit overnight about what to do for tomorrow."
"I think on this one you can't attack too much. The tyres are finished and we are just managing it through the stage."
"We made a few changes in service to the set-up. I wasn't feeling like it was going to be so good, but let's see."
"I did what I could. Without the aero in the fast sections, I had a lot of understeer and the tyres got worn very quickly. We had a good clean run and it was actually quite a push."
"It is not so easy. Lots of gravel on the line, basically full gravel at the beginning. I think I was using the front tyres a lot - I tried to be quite soft on them but I don't think it worked out."
SS6
Rolled
"Not a good run through there - have to just shake that one off and move to the next one!"
"Pretty terrible if i'm honest, had a massive moment in the start, the car just understeered and then it started to oversteer. A big mess."
"Same problems. We have some repair time now."
"I hit a snowbank with the rear. I tried to do the next corner, but it would have been better if I had just spun and not gone into the snowbank and got stuck."
"That one didn't feel so nice - I struggled with the front in some places, but it's still incredibly fun."
"Unfortunately something is wrong at the front. We have to fix it. It's nothing big and I think we know what it is, so we will try to fix it for the next one."
Off road
"I overshot a junction, just couldn't stop the car. It's quite slippery and understeering all the time. I am not really feeling good."
Spin
"It was a bad stage. I was off like four times. I just don't understand why this is happening."
"It was pretty clean overall, with no big dramas. All fine."
Stopped
"It's not possible to drive like this. I have understeer in every corner, I'm at full-lock in sixth gear."
"The driving was good, definitely everywhere where we had a clean line I was pushing. There is quite a lot of loose snow on the sides and it's a bit more messy everywhere."
SS5
Off road
"It was way more rough than I thought. The middle section I thought something was broken, it was so rough. We managed to get through it and the time is not so bad."
"I lost the powersteering. Lost it completely."
"We stalled the car in a junction, the brakes just locked and we went straight."
Stalled
Mechanical issues, driving through on road mode
Spin
"I could probably be the mayor of Brattby at this stage! The car is absolutely on rails - I've never had anything like this before. More of that please!|
"It was difficult. We tried to stay on the line and we did a good run I think."
"Tricky! It's quite a big contrast from the first pass, but this is Sweden. The second pass is always tricky on this kind of stage when you have a soft surface. No mistakes, we are here."
"We will do all we can, just like in the morning. Nothing more we can do at the moment - we'll keep going like this."
"It's a case of survival to be honest. Of course, the conditions are quite bad, but it's going to improve with every car."
Rolled
"Wow. It's worse than any other year. It's so loose in there and the ruts are very deep, so you just have to survive. It was very busy in there."
"Just before the stage I got a message that traction has left the chat! There was not much I could do - I barely survived the stage but it was really tricky. It's definitely going to be a big, big time loss for us."
SS4
"Difficult stage - wasn’t so good at the start, but pushed harder at the end."
"I'm not really trying to be competitive with the fastest guys, i'm just trying to enjoy myself and the car. If we continue like this, then we will get to grips with it. We are getting better, the car is faster and there are a lot of wrong notes for the car. We will get there."
"Quite okay I would say. Difficult to say with the time how it is, in some places I am a bit too fast and sometimes a bit too careful."
"On a junction, we braked too late and got stuck a bit in a snowbank. We are fighting with this powersteering. I have done my training for two weeks! Hopefully the guys in the service can fix everything."
"Quite okay. I was very close to missing the braking on one junction - I had to drive into a snowbank to get it stopped! No dramas, I'm just trying to perfect my braking wherever I can."
"It wasn't easy and sometimes I was struggling a bit to know where is flat-out or not. We will continue to try to progress."
"Slippy, very slippy! For sure, it should get better, ubt it's very messy all around. The lines are going straight to the banks, I am using the banks, and sometimes the exit is really poor because of that."
"It's very, very high speed and I feel comfortable in the car. It's a little bit difficult to keep the car on the line, but all okay. I didn't push at all and just tried to be smooth."
"We probably should be faster. It should be a lot better, so let's see what the second loop will bring. At the moment it's not so easy, that's for sure."
"I'm struggling in a lot of areas. Struggling to find confidence and the balance overall - it's not easy out there."
"I had a good stage to be honest. If I lost time, I don't know where."
"Definitely, these two were better than the first, but this was again really tough to open the road. I tried to push and be clean, for sure in the fast parts where it's clean I could be fast. But you lose a lot of time on the junctions on things like that."
SS3
Off road
Rolled
"Our driving is not looking like proper driving. The stages are quite demanding, not easy to get used to them so quickly. We are working on that."
"I tried to be really clean and not to lose any straight line speed to the snow banks. I don't know if I should be pushing more or is this good."
"It seems we have some powersteering problems, so.."
"I was confident from last year that this place was flat, but it wasn't. I got sucked into the snowbank and then the filter and everythig was blocked, so we had to stop and clear it."
Stopped to clean snow from the car
Hit a snowbank
"Completely different story here. A lot of tricky fast places, I was losing the rear and it surprised me in places. Relatively clean stage. All I could do."
"It's such small margins that if I step up, it may be too much. I need to continue like this but maybe try a little harder."
"For sure the grip was better, but quite tricky to open the road. I can push hard but then some corners get you if you don't know if there is snow or not. Some places I could have been faster. Really difficult, but I tried to be clean, that's all."
"I was very smooth and I had a quite rhythm. The car is working well, it's all good."
"It's completely different to the first one - the first one was snowy and this is icy. 'Happy' is probably too much of a strong word for me, but we are here at least."
"I just understeered on a long corner and completely missed my apex. It's not going well so far."
"I have too much understeer so I am really struggling to keep the corner speed. I could feel it was slow, but we have to react."
SS2
"Not very happy with our run, lots of understeer and quite tricky to drive. Got to try and make a few changes and see if we can get a better feeling."
"It was already rutted, so quite messy. The second loop will be quite tough but I was enjoying it anyway."
"I've missed that feeling! Very, very simple, completely effortless. Second chance - I'm a very lucky boy."
"Yesterday night the feeling wasn't there, but we did a good stage. In some places it was not the best driving and we lost a bit of time in some junctions, but let's continue. It will be better and better."
"Pretty okay. For sure, I can improve quite a lot but it was quite slippery to be honest. Not an easy stage at all, but quite a clean one."
"It's quite slippery in some sections because I think everybody is hitting the snowbanks quite a lot, so there is a lot of snow on the line. It's hard to say which road position is good, but I'm just focusing on my job and trying to do my best on the stages."
"No, not a good feeling! the stage is very tricky to drive. It was a big fight on this one."
"The conditions are really bad to be honest and the snowbanks are really hard as well. A difficult start."
"Lots of cleaning in there. I guess Rovanperä was struggling a lot, and for me in some places I couldn't even see his lines - there's a lot of loose snow. I felt better in the car than yesterday, but still not as good as I want it to be."
"There is a lot of snow on the road which is really slippy for us. I tried to be clean and fast but I can't do much more."
SS1
"We are always having fun when we are in rally car. It was a tricky stage, many difficult braking places."
Step into Rally2 car is feeling really good, it is definetly a big step up and it will took some time to get used to, but I am ready for this challenge."
I was a little bit struggling. On some places I didn't feel the grip fully, that is why I was feeling nervous, but when our time is fine, than is all good."
"Stage was ok, but quiet slippery to be honest. Jumps are bigger than a last year, I wasn't expecting so big jumps."
"Not the best feeling yet. We lost rear bumper after hard landing after jump."
"We just having nice drifting in one corner. That is Sweden."
Strange engine noise on start
"It is small surprise, because feeling wasn't a really good and on last jump we jumped absolutelly too much. I don't know what we were doing there."
Some damage under the car after big jump
"It was a quiet tricky, it was ice-pace and on braking slippery, so not the best run for me, but ok start start for me."
It was a clean run for me, few touches into snowbanks, but I gues nobody avoid them. Feeling was ok."
"Really strange, right before last corner engine was hearing like running on three cylinders."
Technical issues before finish line
"It was clean one for me."
"I am super happy to be back in Sweden. I love to do these kind of stages and I am super happy to do it with this car. I am looking forward to just enjoying this weekend because it's amazing."
"Quite okay but I struggled quite a lot with the traction coming out of the junctions and under braking."
"I didn't know what to expect with the grip - I think I was a bit too careful. Not very good."
"It's quite tricky with the braking. I couldn't restart the car under braking and we went straight towards the bank. That's how it is on the ice when you lock the wheels."
"It felt okay grip-wise compared to the shakedown. I was a bit careful but the real stages start tomorrow. I will enjoy it."
"A good stage, but the ice was already quite broken. We had an okay feeling."
"I think the snowbanks are just so hard, as soon as you touch them it damages the bodywork straight away. Not a great run."
"I was maybe too careful. I don't feel the grip to be honest, so not a great stage for us. It's okay."
"This one was quite okay. In some sections it's quite slippery with the loose snow but otherwise it was quite good. I just didn't feel like I was driving so good."