In the World Rally Championship-2 standings, Yoann Bonato and Benjamin Boulloud led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by seven points respectively. Adrien Fourmaux and Renaud Jamoul were second, with Ole Christian Veiby and Jonas Andersson in third in each standings, another slender three points behind.[11]
Entry list
The following crews were entered into the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and WRC-2 Pro, the Junior World Rally Championship, and privateer entries not registered to score points in any championship. A total of sixty-two entries were received, with fourteen crews entered with World Rally Cars and twenty-three entered the World Rally Championship-2; of these, five were nominated to score points in the Pro class. A further thirteen entries were received for the Junior World Rally Championship.
The route of the 2019 rally is made up of 319.17 km (198.32 mi) in competitive stages, some 4.92 km (3.06 mi) longer than the 2018 event.[13] The Rämmen stage will return replace the Torntorp stage. Rämmen is due to be run as SS9 and SS12 and will run in the opposite direction to previous years.[14]
Being first on the road meant Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia have to endure changeable conditions and unpredictable grip. As it turned out, it is highly risky. The six-time World Champions went off the road on Svullrya and stuck in the snowbank, which forced them to retire from the first leg. The other major victim was Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila crew, who went wide over a crest on the final stage of Friday and cost them nearly twenty-four minutes to get unstuck. They chose to run under Rally2 regulation so that they reduced the time loss to ten minutes.[16][17]
The second leg of the rally appeared to be a total disaster for Teemu Suninen and Marko Salminen. Having led a rally for the first time ever, they beached their Fiesta at a left-hand corner, which dropped them down to eighth.[18] Worse still, at the afternoon loop, they hit a tree and damaged their roll cage, which forced them to retire from the day. Following the retirement of Suninen and Salminen, Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja were comfortable in the lead.[19]
Eventually, The Estonian crew comfortably took their first snow-surfaced rally victory. With the win, they led in both the drivers' and co-drivers' standings for the first time ever in their career by seven points. Their team, defending manufacturers' champions Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT also led the championship by one point. Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm crew managed to keep themselves ahead of Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul with just a three seconds of advantage.[20]
Sweden
Ott Tänak
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Mads Østberg
Citroën Total
