Toyota’s Elfyn Evans remains in control at Rally Sweden, but his lead has shrunk to 1.9 seconds after a morning surge from Adrien Fourmaux, who stormed to back-to-back stage wins on Friday.
Evans, who set the early pace after winning Thursday’s superspecial stage, extended his lead to 2.7 seconds with a dominant run in the morning’s first stage, SS2 Bygdsiljum (17.5 miles). But then came Fourmaux. The M-Sport driver, after struggling with traction early, turned up the heat on SS3 Andersvattnet (12.75 miles) and SS4 Bäck, slicing into Evans’ lead with two blistering runs.
“I had a really clean stage on the last two stages,” Fourmaux said. “I needed to find the pace a bit on the first one, and after that, I’m really, really pleased with the pace. The roads this morning were just perfect.”
Fourmaux Pounces as Hyundai’s Top Guns Struggle
While Fourmaux thrived, his Hyundai teammates faltered.
Ott Tänak, who started the day tied for second with Kalle Rovanperä, struggled with understeer but still managed to hold onto third place, 6.2 seconds behind Evans.
“It’s like driving a snow drift rally,” Tänak admitted. “Grip is obviously very, very low.”
The real disappointment, however, came from Thierry Neuville, who battled massive understeer throughout the morning. After dropping time on SS2, Neuville’s frustration boiled over.
“I am flat out everywhere and turning, and the car just goes straight,” he said after the stage. “It’s been a fight the whole morning.”
A marshal briefly slowed him down on SS4, adding to his woes. As a result, Neuville sits in sixth place, a full 13.3 seconds behind Tänak.
Katsuta and Rovanperä Round Out the Top Five
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta had an impressive morning, consistently setting top-three times to move up to fourth place, just 2.2 seconds behind Tänak.
“Much, much better than yesterday,” Katsuta said. “No drama, no pushing, just steady.”
Meanwhile, Kalle Rovanperä was noticeably frustrated, unable to match his usual pace. The reigning WRC champion is struggling to adapt to the new Hankook tires, especially when it comes to his setup.
“I took a little bit different approach for the setup for this race, trying to compensate for the new tires,” Rovanperä explained. “It doesn’t work so well at the moment, so we need to figure out something in the service.”
Rovanperä is now 18 seconds off the lead and nearly 10 seconds behind Katsuta.
M-Sport’s Rising Stars Impress
M-Sport’s Josh McErlean and Mārtiņš Sesks sit seventh and eighth, with McErlean particularly impressing despite his limited experience on snow and ice.
“It’s been quite surprising,” McErlean said. “We’ve got so little experience on this surface, yet everything seems quite comfortable. Maybe we can step it up a bit more.”
Just behind them, Sami Pajari had a promising start but lost over 30 seconds on SS2 when his tire came off the rim after clipping a snowbank. He now sits ninth, 4.4 seconds ahead of Grégoire Munster, who is still fine-tuning his car’s handling.
“Maybe we went a bit too far in that [other] direction,” Munster said. “But at least we know now—we’re learning.”
Afternoon Showdown Looms
As Rally Sweden heads into its afternoon stages, Evans remains the hunted man—but Fourmaux is closing in fast. With Tänak lurking in third and Katsuta finding his rhythm, the battle at the top is heating up.
Can Evans fend off the M-Sport attack? Or will Fourmaux keep his charge going? Stay tuned.