Rally Sweden is renowned for being one of the fastest on the World Rally Championship calendar, as crews thread their way through snowbank-lined stages. This year, that might not be the case, and they will have to be extra careful.
Snow levels in the lead up to the event, held approximately 300km south of the Arctic circle in Umea, have been reduced compared to previous editions since Rally Sweden moved to the region in search of snow from 2022.
While crews are expected to face more than enough snow and extreme sub-zero temperatures, the snowbanks that line the stages are, in places, significantly lower, which will throw an extra curveball this week. Snowbanks have often come to drivers’ aids by leaning the car on the snow to help navigate through the stages at the fastest possible speed – with the help of special studded tyres.
M-Sport-Ford’s Jon Armstrong, a Junior WRC winner in Sweden in 2022, referred to the snowbanks as almost like “putting the bumpers up” in tenpin bowling, speaking in the lead up to the rally last week.
“I think that [Rally Sweden] is the ultimate playground for a rally driver, because you can push the envelope in every corner with the grip you get from the studs and also if the snowbanks are sort of big and solid, you’ve got those as sort of safety barriers,” said Armstrong. “It is a bit like putting the bumpers up in bowling. It’s obviously not that straightforward. There’s different types of snowbanks and you have to gauge it.”
However, it appears this year that the snowbanks could be more of a hindrance than a help.
Jon Armstrong, Shane Byrne, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo by: M-Sport
“It changes the approach a bit as in some of the medium speed corners you can’t use the banks so much if you come in with more speed,” Armstrong added.
“You have to drive more like a normal rally and be neat and tidy and try not to go so wide and basically you can’t use them. They still give you something, but you can’t hit them at speed or they will just break.
Championship leader Oliver Solberg will be the first to tackle the stages following his stunning win at the Monte Carlo opener last month. The three-time Rally Sweden WRC2 winner admits that more care will be required this year.
“There are a little bit lower snowbanks than normal, but there are still great roads and great conditions – and it is -20C out there, so it is going to be a proper rally,” said Toyota’s Solberg.
“They are not so high. You can kiss them, but you cannot hug them – so we need to be a little bit more careful. On the Friday stages at least, it looks like there is a bit more snow. I will have to stay quite clean.”
Another factor that will add to the complexity is the fact that some of the roads have been ploughed by organisers, and from the naked eye they appear wider. However, they may instead offer up more surprises and ditches on the edge of the road.
Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: McKlein Photography / LAT Images via Getty Images
“Of course, the stages look a little bit different, some stages are maybe a little bit wider and sometimes there can be surprises as the roads have been ploughed over the ditches. So, you might feel the road is wider but there is a surprise if you go to the edge of the road and you really need to be precise with your line still, but others it is not changing too much,” said Finland’s Sami Pajari.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville added: “It doesn’t really change the approach the driving stays the same, but you just need to be a bit more careful and especially in those corners where there are ditches behind, they are the tricky ones. Before the snowbank was able to keep you on the road but here if you go wide there are proper ditches and you will not get out.”
Neuville topped Thursday’s shakedown clocking a time on his fifth run to head a Hyundai 1-2-3. When asked if his team has the ability to bounce back after a difficult Monte Carlo, the 2024 world champion revealed he is still struggling for confidence.
“Honestly, it feels like I am repeating the same things for more than a year. It still feels similar and it still feels like something is missing to be confident basically,” he added.
“To be confident we can have a strong event and that we will be up to pace and to be confident that we will not get stuck in a ditch. It is very difficult for me at the moment, and I can feel it in the recce and once I’m sitting in the car.”
The first of 18 Rally Sweden stages is scheduled to begin on Thursday evening.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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