Four talking points from a scintillating Rally Sweden

Massive result… for the WRC

This was a big deal for Tänak, who chose to quit the Hyundai team at the end of last season despite scoring three victories as the closest challenger to Kalle Rovanperä. He would have been a huge loss to the WRC if he hadn’t landed a drive, so there were sighs of relief all round when M-Sport found the financial means – against its own expectations – to clinch a deal with the Estonian, who previously rallied for the Cumbrian team between 2011 and ’17.

Last year, in the first season of the new hybrid Rally1 regulations, the new Puma had got off to a storming start thanks to a fantastic cameo from WRC legend Sébastien Loeb, who returned to the series for the Monte Carlo Rally and won the first event of the new era. But thereafter, M-Sport’s season tailed off into one of disappointment and frustration. The signing of Tänak has given the team a chance to prove that with a top driver its Puma can be a contender – and the Swedish performance, for a first win since Loeb’s Monte win just over a year ago, underlined that as fact.

The team only receives a limited amount of support from Ford compared to the full factory Toyota and Hyundai squads, yet appears set to make it a full three-way duel for the title this year. Great news for Tänak, great news for M-Sport – and even better news for the WRC.

“It obviously means a lot to me, to come into a new car and deliver to these guys [at M-Sport].” Tänak said. “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,” added the famously high-maintenance ace. “But as long as it’s delivering then we are all winning. It’s great to be part of this team.”

Retribution for Irishman Breen

The Swedish Rally also represented a huge turnaround for Craig Breen. The Irishman had led M-Sport’s attack last year (when Loeb wasn’t making his cameos), but suffered a disastrous campaign that shredded his confidence and caused him to split with the team at season’s end. He has returned from whence he came to Hyundai, but only for a partial WRC campaign this year. Breen sat out the Monte, so Sweden was his first chance to compete in the i20 N Rally1 – and boy, did he make the most of it.

The 33-year-old established himself as the rally leader across Friday’s first leg, aided by an advantageous on-the-road starting position, but proved he also had genuine pace by staying at the top for much of Saturday – until Tänak made the difference on Saturday afternoon. Both were up against it, Breen hitting a snowbank, then picking up a puncture, then losing his hybrid system on the final two stages of the leg. Tänak was lucky to survive his own puncture to hold an 8.6-second lead overnight, then stretched away on Sunday morning. But Breen had already proved his point – to himself as much as anyone.

Neuville throws away a gift

Breen finished as runner-up, but on Hyundai’s orders he should have been third. Thierry Neuville recovered from illness and a poor starting position on the road for the first leg to rise up to the podium. Given that he’s Hyundai’s full-season hope for the title, new Hyundai boss and ex-Renault Formula 1 chief Cyril Abiteboul took a leaf from his old world to call team orders: Breen was told to check in late for the final regroup, take a penalty and drop a position. The trouble was Neuville threw the gift away by making a mistake on the final Power Stage, leaving Breen to jump back ahead and finish second. The Belgian was still upbeat about his performance, which included five stage wins.

Rovanperä vs Tänak vs Neuville at the top

Starting first on the road was always going to be a challenge in Sweden, and so it proved for Rovanperä. Even the reigning champion couldn’t fully recover the time lost on the Friday, before the running order changed in his favour on Saturday. But fourth place, within touching distance of the two Hyundais ahead of him, still represented a decent return. After two rounds, the Finn is three points off leader Tänak, with Neuville hovering a further six back. Ford vs Toyota vs Hyundai, with the WRC’s top three drivers preparing to face off across a season… It’s all set to be a classic on the world’s special stages.

Vergne wins Formula E’s first race in India

Meanwhile in the southern hemisphere, Formula E travelled to India for the first time to race on Saturday in front of a 25,000-strong crowd on the streets of Hyderabad. The electric racers put on an action-packed show as Jean-Éric Vergne scored his first victory since Rome in 2021, for the DS Penske team.

The Frenchman saw off a concerted late challenge form Envision Virgin’s Nick Cassidy, the Kiwi benefitting from a significant four percent energy advantage as they began the last lap. But double champion Vergne used all his vast experience to cling on and claim a famous win. “I’m very, very happy,” he said. “It was a tough race – I had to defend quite hard at the end but we somehow managed to win it. It was a clean race, no mistakes. It’s good for everyone’s heart in our team.”

Vergne was also quick to compliment the new addition to the Formula E calendar, as the FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem looked on along with a host of Indian celebrities, including cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar. “I like new tracks – I think it’s cool,” said Vergne. “Especially this one. It’s a lot of fun.”

Disaster for Jaguar

One of the main talking points was an embarrassing collision for the Jaguar team as Sam Bird made a mess of the hairpin and took out team-mate Mitch Evans. A contrite Bird completely misjudged the speed of the cars ahead of him on the approach to the hairpin, skated down the inside of Nissan driver Sacha Fenestraz and slammed into Evans’s car at the apex. That led to a double retirement on the spot, and also ruined the races of Fenestraz and Maserati MSG’s Maximilian Guenther. Evans had started from pole position and although he’d lost his early lead, Bird’s mistake delivered a heavy blow for Jaguar.

Silver lining for Jaguar

On the plus side, Envision Virgin is powered by the Big Cat this year, so Cassidy’s second place at least offered some consolation. It looked set to be an Envision Virgin two-three as well, only for Sebastien Buemi to be docked 17 seconds after the race for an overpower infringement, dropping him from third to 15^th. That promoted Antonio Felix da Costa on to the podium, his first since he joined the works Porsche team.

Great save by Wehrlein

Fourth from 12^th on the grid represented a superb return for championship leader Pascal Wehrlein, especially after his serious mishap in Friday practice. The German crashed his Porsche heavily into the wall and was sent to hospital for checks. He was still complaining of pain on race day, but the ex-Formula 1 driver followed up his double win in Saudi Arabia with more solid points. The result was even better, given the misfortune of his nearest title rival Jake Dennis. The British driver’s Avalanche Andretti entry was rear-ended at the hairpin by McLaren’s René Rast and was forced to retire when a decent points haul looked on.

That’s left Werhlein 18 points ahead of Dennis, with Vergne now third as Formula E heads next to another new destination: Cape Town on 25^th February, for the series’ first race in South Africa.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.