[WRC] Rally Sweden 2026

[CeskyOndra]

The gap between Toyota and Hyundai seems even bigger this year. I bet Thierry can't wait to stop driving this iteration of the i20. If to retire or to try the 2027 cars I don't know. Fourmaux must be disappointed too. Unless the car has amazing pace on gravel (it won't), good luck fighting for titles with it.

Seems that Evans understood that consistency alone isn't going to cut it, he needs this kind of speed as well. Let's see if this year he'll make it against Ogier and Solberg.

The pace on gravel will be there for Hyundai, the question lies on reliability.

Is Ogier starting in Kenya?

[focus206]

The pace on gravel will be there for Hyundai, the question lies on reliability.

Is Ogier starting in Kenya?

To fight for the title, pace doesn't just need to be there, it needs to be great, possibly better than Toyota. Otherwise no way to counterbalance Toyota's great reliability and Hyundai's bad performances on asphalt & snow.
Ogier is in the entry list, yes.

[deephouse]

Evans is always mentaly destroyed by Ogier, and I mean every single time. And here when he wasn't around he was just wonderful. He should drive like this all the time and he could snatch the title easily last year.

[M3 Jambo]

Not so sure Elfyn was destroyed by Ogier in MC last month.

[Rallyper]

Sesks has it. He just need more driving. To me he is an unpolished diamond.
Solberg was lucky, but his reactions when going off is way better than almost every driver. And lucky. He would´ve been on podium if not for the off on Friday. But should be happy he got 17 points.
Evans looked good already at Arctic rally, so he was my man on Pickems.

[SubaruNorway]

Here's my video from the week, 10 stages + shakedown and my legs are dead! Hope you enjoy!
https://youtu.be/dxfaWuaihjg?si=m8xpaZDsKuTQJfEg

[COD]

Maybe promoter but definitely not the organizer.
It was quite difficult to get hold of marshalls who could imagine being in the forest until it was almost dark.
Now they have to be in place at 05-19 at for example Vännäs, and get back on the day after to see that they dont missed something.

And as I said, safety was a huge deciding factor.

Hard to manage only daylight running that north this time of the year.

But hard to understand why running is like that, instead of running same stages closer together. Like 2+2 and then service

[CeskyOndra]

Are you guys participating in the official Rally TV predictor game?

[Steve Boyd]

Is this reasonable? I really don´t think timepenalty is fair.
In the document Stewards Decision 6 (https://app-cdn.sportity.com/3b4955bc-7370-43db-a870-7c95fc5208df/a197c961-577e-44af-92bf-5bc41fe9efc5_Stewards%20Decision%206.pdf)
they say:

Having considered the matter extensively, the Stewards deem it appropriate to impose both a time penalty and a financial penalty, in line with previous precedentsso clearly time penalties have been given before.

The driver has made a dumb mistake and got a minute penalty - exactly the same penalty as a co-driver who makes the dumb mistake of ckecking in one minute early. As a former co-driver, I'm with the Stewardfs on this one!

[Steve Boyd]

Thierry Neuville must have wrung every last ounce from that i20.

He probably doesn't get enough credit for the effort he puts when his back is up the wall.
After he screwed up the first Sunday stage on there was no way he was improving his overall position or getting Sunday points so his best option was to take care of his tyres all day so that they were better than everyone else's for the Power stage.

[deephouse]

https://www.autohebdof1.com/news/rally/wrc/Hyundai-Sweden-fourth-wheel.html

Wheatley said that they compromise with chassis being focused more for end of season, where there is more gravel events and they still don't know if that will even pay off and they sacrifice Sweden for that.

[TypeR]

Should make fundraiser for Thierry to drive Toyota and let him for once know how proper rally car feels and drives :D

2 rallies in and two most motivated guys have had enough with this car :D

[EstWRC]

https://www.autohebdof1.com/news/rally/wrc/Hyundai-Sweden-fourth-wheel.html

Wheatley said that they compromise with chassis being focused more for end of season, where there is more gravel events and they still don't know if that will even pay off and they sacrifice Sweden for that.

Fire that guy

Everything has gone wrong since he joined IMO

[flat_right]

Agree. Want to see what is the apology when they don't perform on the gravel.

[AndersX]

I wrote this before the PS. I did think about posting it before to see how big a fool I could be, but decided to keep my powder dry.


Evans did the business.

Katsuta very good. I’d be sorry for his tyre problems, or whatever they were, if I wasn’t an Evans fan. I never really took him seriously, but I'm coming to think he could win Sweden one year when the stars align.

Neuville, Fourmaux were fine in the circumstances.

Lappi finished the rally without issues in a decent position, looking quietly competent, which is exactly what the team wants from a third driver. Why couldn’t he do this when he was full time?

Pajari looking better than he has. But no “Pajari, future champion?” thread based on this.

Enni Malkonen nearly beat Pajari. Maybe she’s a good influence, and Sami should get her back? He went downhill after they parted, you know…

Armstrong showed real speed and stayed on the road. Right now he looks like he could have a career like Neuville, or a career like Lappi. We will see.

Solberg… Was fast at the start, but went off so maybe he was too fast, but got back on. After that, not so different from the rest of Toyota overall but with more risk. Still an unknown quantity.

Sesks did some fast stages. But after bad luck happens too many times, one starts to wonder whether it’s luck.


I feel like Solberg could be the next Tanak and Sesks could be the next Meeke, but it could also be the other way round.


I don’t think championship points matter much right now. Whoever leads the championship after Japan will be punished for leading it. Championship race starts around Chile.


Have you noticed how Evans hasn’t been putting a hat on before talking in stage end interviews? No sponsorship, I guess?

I agree on most of this: I really, really would like to see Evans as WDC!

I addition: Armstrong seems to have that cool head that will lead him up consistent Top 5 in future. He has smth in him. Also personality seems very marketable.

All who wrote Pajari off and put the pressure on him should put their heads in Umeå snow bank - this guy is fast, give him time, he is consistent Top3 material.

Hyundai: as Niki Lauda said in the movie Rush after the Ferrari test: all these facilities and you built a piece of crap like this...?!

About Sesks: what all are missing - his situation is similar to Sunninen at Ford - he was asked to perform without normal PETs and car developments - he started to overdrive. I asked before Swe in the Msport chat, if anyone had seen any footage from Msport PET? Basically Sesks tests the car on shakedowns. What do we all expect? In addition, he can not drive safe - then situation would be like last year - when Msport asked him to finish on unknown rallies, everybody were saying he was slow (again, with limited testing and seattime). When he pushes with all the limitations - everybody says he is overdriving.

All this is very unfair to young and talented drivers.

Evans for WDC! 😀

[Bigalstosh99]

Agree.

Elfyn beat Ogier on pace and took 2nd Sunday points and all Power Stage points in Ogier’s back yard. Elfyn’s new aggressiveness meant Ogier looked like the one on the back foot at the end of the rally.

Will be interesting to see how the battle develops in Kenya when Ogier comes back in.

[Bigalstosh99]

Agree.

Elfyn beat Ogier on pace and took 2nd Sunday points and all Power Stage points in Ogier’s back yard. Elfyn’s new aggressiveness meant Ogier looked like the one on the back foot at the end of the rally.

Will be interesting to see how the battle develops in Kenya when Ogier comes back in.

Sorry guys. Misplaced post from. Meant to be a reply to M3 Jambo two pages back. Fat fingers on my part.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

On Hyundai and Neuville... despite his struggles and lack of confidence in the car, without his time loss with an off (& misted screen), time penalty, plus tyre-saving on Sunday, he would still have been fighting for the podium. He also won some stages.

[deephouse]

Sesks should be here full time, no doubt about it. As he is fast and sometimes have some offs. While McErlean is slow and still have some offs. Armstrong did prove enough he is here because he have talent. And if he will be in WRC next year he can challenge for podiums or maybe a wins already.

[EstWRC]

On Hyundai and Neuville... despite his struggles and lack of confidence in the car, without his time loss with an off (& misted screen), time penalty, plus tyre-saving on Sunday, he would still have been fighting for the podium. He also won some stages.

Definitely not. I don’t know how you came to this conclusion

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Definitely not. I don’t know how you came to this conclusion

They mentioned it in commentary.

(PS. I just worked out his average stage position without his 3 big time loss stages and it is 4th fastest.

So he would've been battling with Solberg which is no disgrace in Sweden.)

[Morte66]

About Sesks: what all are missing - his situation is similar to Sunninen at Ford - he was asked to perform without normal PETs and car developments - he started to overdrive. I asked before Swe in the Msport chat, if anyone had seen any footage from Msport PET? Basically Sesks tests the car on shakedowns. What do we all expect? In addition, he can not drive safe - then situation would be like last year - when Msport asked him to finish on unknown rallies, everybody were saying he was slow (again, with limited testing and seattime). When he pushes with all the limitations - everybody says he is overdriving.

I think you are very possibly right, and I hope you are.

[Morte66]

Sesks should be here full time, no doubt about it.

In an ideal world, he'd get a deal something like Pajari. But he's neither rich nor Japanese nor Finnish.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Yep, it's a pity but until he gets a full-time seat he will never be able to show his true ability. Even full-time at M-Sport would make a big difference. If only he was Irish... ;)

[deephouse]

Let's just hope that someone will consider him seriously if there will be more teams in WRC in future and especially over Munster, which in my opinion isn't anybodys choice.

[rallyfiend]

Fire that guy

Everything has gone wrong since he joined IMO

Seems like FX Demaison should be removed (again) first as this sounds engineering related.....

[EstWRC]

Seems like FX Demaison should be removed (again) first as this sounds engineering related.....

What can you do with fundamentally wrong car?

[deephouse]

What if he doesn't even working on WRC project at all and is more or less in Genesis WEC project. And since the car is retiring at the end of season I think they actually didn't do much work at all, lost motivation already. Don't know. The best thing I think they really do is to bring Paddon back. But not much on the car. I think that (even if I constantly repeat myself) the first who should be fired is Abudabu. And hire someone with actual WRC background. And maybe start working as a team and nor individual (as Toyota suggested)

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Hyundai disappointed in Sweden: "We realized it would be more difficult than expected."...

https://www.autohebdof1.com/news/rally/wrc/Hyundai-disappointed-in-Sweden%3B-we-understood-that-it-would-be-more-difficult-than-expected..html

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Maybe Neuville should also take some responsibility for the situation.

As he admitted at the start of the rally, 'Unfortunately we (he) always start like this and we are fine tuning the car before we get something fast.'

But then said, 'At least we have got a feeling for it and know which way to go'.

However the following day he was completely lost.

[Rallyper]

agree on Sesks, as I mentiones a couple of pages before.
He needs to be one of the factory guys. Hope MSport realaises that immediately.

[Rallyper]

agree on Sesks, as I mentiones a couple of pages before.
He needs to be one of the factory guys. Hope MSport realaises that immediately.

[saco0o]

just watched the 52min full event highlights... and just like with monte, it was awesome! wrc NEED to have these 52min full event highlights out there. it is already free to watch on redbulltv, I DONT UNDERSTAND!!

im only following the championship like this for 2026 and i gotta admit, its been the best! i said this once, but I was losing interest in the championship but following this way UUH, it got me pumped up again! so happy Jon managed to at least finish the event. msport CANT WIN, we know that. gotta cheer for the blokes to at least bring the cars home in every event!

wrc2 was really good too! roope is getting in wrc RIGHT ON TIME for the "R5 only" in 2027 =P

[Fast Eddie WRC]

agree on Sesks, as I mentiones a couple of pages before.
He needs to be one of the factory guys. Hope MSport realaises that immediately.

M-Sport have known this and wanted him for a while, but if the funding doesnt stack up a full-time deal cant happen.

Hyundai could afford him, but he's still learning some events & tarmac-driving and they needed a fully-finished driver (or 3).

[EstWRC]

They mentioned it in commentary.

(PS. I just worked out his average stage position without his 3 big time loss stages and it is 4th fastest.

So he would've been battling with Solberg which is no disgrace in Sweden.)

His total loss was 3.45 in the end, if i take out 2 minutes from there (1 minute penalty and 1 minute lost with the snowbank excursion) then he is still far away from the podium

[ReRe]

My photogallery from Rally Sweden 2026:
https://eu.zonerama.com/TomasR/Album/14805154

[ReRe]

My photogallery from Rally Sweden 2026:
https://eu.zonerama.com/TomasR/Album/14805154