Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta delivered a string of fast times to snatch the Rally Sweden lead away from his World Rally Championship team-mate Elfyn Evans after an eventful Friday.
Katsuta started the day sitting in third overall, but ended the leg of seven stages with a 2.8s margin over Evans. Sami Pajari, 22.2s back, locked out the top-three positions for Toyota as Hyundai’s difficult start to the 2026 season continued.
The morning loop of stages belonged to Evans, who quickly overhauled overnight leader Oliver Solberg, helped by the latter losing more than 30s in an off into a snowbank that caused a puncture. Evans ended the loop with a 14.5s lead over Katsuta before the roles reversed across the afternoon loop.
Starting fifth on the road, Katsuta knew his road position would lead to gains on the snow-covered stages that had started to deteriorate. The Japanese driver, searching for his maiden WRC win, more than halved Evans’ advantage after winning stage five, before closing the deficit to 2.5s after claiming stage six.
With Evans disadvantaged by the conditions, Katsuta moved into the lead by 0.1s after stage seven. Evans dropped 2.7s to Katsuta across the 5.7km Umea stage to end the day 2.8s behind Katsuta.
“Everything went well. We knew the afternoon loop was going to be more difficult for the front runners, so we were just a bit patient in the morning loop,” said Katsuta.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Evans added: “It was a good start for us this morning and the road inevitably evolved this afternoon and we did what we could. But it was not quite enough to hang on tonight, but there is still a long way to go.”
Pajari also benefited from his road positions in the afternoon as the Finn pulled 23.7s clear of Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi to end the day in third.
“I’m happy-ish. It is nice to be in a good position but on the other hand there is a long way to go and I was hoping to have even better speed,” said Pajari.
Championship leader Solberg was fortunate to end Friday in sixth after his stage three excursion into a snowbank. The Swede managed to claim the final stage of the day to sit 6.9s behind Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux but admitted he had been surprised by the challenge of opening the roads.
“I have to say I completely underestimated how difficult it would be to be first on the road. I have never done it before and not with this car either. It was very tricky,” said Solberg. “It is important that we are here and we were lucky this morning and you need a bit of that too. I need to be positive, we have a good position for tomorrow.”
Hyundai managed to chalk up its first stage win of the rally when Thierry Neuville claimed SS7, but Friday ultimately outlined the Korean marque’s struggles for pace against Toyota.
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Hyundai
After stage four Neuville described his own lack of confidence in the i20 N package as the “hardest time of his career so far”. In the afternoon, the Belgian, who had lost more than a minute to a run-in with a snowbank in the morning, found a marginal improvement, but remained frustrated in seventh – 1m43.8s off the lead.
“I can’t remember when was the last time we made a fastest time so we have to take that one but I think the tyre management made the difference,” said Neuville. “Generally, I’m a bit more pleased with the car balance this afternoon, but even if the car balance improved, the performance is still not there.
“Obviously as always you are very limited in what you can do even in the development of the car. We can do basically nothing and play around trying to find something. But unfortunately Toyota were able to make a step, and they have always been very strong, and we have to make steps and also to catch the delay on them, and with the current regulation it is impossible.”
Fourmaux, added: “We missed the front biting in the fast corners but as soon as the road becomes more technical we are more on the pace, so we need to understand this. We have made a step on yesterday but we are still not where we want to be. But we are fifth now, so our road position for tomorrow is better.”
M-Sport-Ford also endured a difficult day headlined by a tyre pressure misjudgement that appeared to contribute to a spate of tyre failures for its trio of drivers Martins Sesks, Josh McErlean and Jon Armstrong.
Sesks suffered three punctures and ultimately retired from the day after surviving the morning loop.
Joshua Mcerlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo by: M-Sport
Armstrong picked up a second puncture in the final stage, but on the whole showed impressive pace on his first Rally1 outing on snow, ending the day in eighth and 1m59.3s off the lead.
After two rear punctures in the morning, McErlean struggled for speed across the afternoon before completing the last stage with the radiator blanking still in place, which cost him more time. The Irishman ended Friday more than three and a half minutes from the lead in ninth.
The top 10 was rounded out by WRC2 leader Roope Korhonen.
We want to hear from you!
Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.
Take our survey
– The Autosport.com Team
Read the full article here