The FIA World Rally Championship continues the hybrid era in Sweden, with a course that will run through frozen, remote forests in the north of the country. The host city (Umea) has seen temperatures as low as -20 C, which means that the speed tests will definitely push competitors to the extreme. This is the only WRC winter fixture, and in this season, drivers have to employ some unique tactics. These include “leaning” their cars against the snowbanks to make it around corners and using studded tires to dig into the ice. You might expect a race through ice and snow to end up producing slower times, but with these tires and tactics, the times here will actually be faster. Usually, drivers from Scandinavia tend to dominate the Swedish event, but that has not been as true in recent years. Let’s take a closer look at the race, set for February 24-27, as you consider whether or not to add this to your online Rally Odds.
World Rally Championship News: Sweden Rally Preview
Driver Odds
| Elfyn Evans | +250 |
| Kalle Rovanpera | +260 |
| Ott Tanak | +320 |
| Thierry Neuville | +400 |
| Esapekka Lappi | +600 |
| Craig Breen | +750 |
| Adrien Fournaux, Gus Greensmith | +4000 |
| Takamoto Katsuta, Oliver Solberg | +5000 |
| Lorenzo Bertelli | +150000 |
Elfyn Evans crumbled at the Monte Carlo Rally last month, as he was on the verge of powering into the lead before dropping his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. If you look at Evans’ track record a bit further back, he is racing fast at this point in time. There is likely to be new snow on the ground in between the recce and the start of the rally. Evans is sixth, which means that by the time he comes through, others should have plowed the snow a bit for him. Being sixth should also keep him from hitting the rocks, at least through the first loop, if the gravel starts to appear from under the snow. He won at Rally Sweden on a soggy day last year with a car that he didn’t yet know, so he’s a deserving favorite here.
Esapekka Lappi comes in after a break of almost five months from competition, and in some years that might wreck his chances. However, no one has really mastered the Rally1 equipment yet, and the series has only had one round in 2022, on a surface that will be quite different from the ice and snow in Sweden. Lappi had two WRC2 races in 2021, and both showed elite skill, including a dominant run at Rally Finland, on the Arctic snow. He didn’t run at Monte and also ended up below Ott Tanak and Adrien Fournaux on the WRC points table. He will start second to last on the first day. This will give him an advantage in terms of grip, particularly over Kalle Rovanpera, another favorite who finds himself in the opposite situation in terms of expected grip.
Ott Tanak will run on the Hyundai i20 N Rally1, and the manufacturer believes that its vehicle is faster on surfaces without much grip than it was at Monte Carlo, where most of the surface was dry asphalt. When Tanak can run on fast gravel and is locked in, he is one of the toughest racers in the circuit. Tanak might be the one to knock off the three Yaris drivers – as long as his car makes it the whole way.
Kalle Rovanpera mounted a furious comeback at Monte Carlo to show that he can deal with adversity, and now he needs a solid result in order to mount a serious challenge for the title this year. Rovanpera came in second at Arctic Rally Finland, making him an interesting choice this time around.
WRC Betting Odds
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