The chase for success in the FIA World Rally Championship continues unabated in Sweden next week with the WRC’s annual pure winter fixture.
The chase for success in the FIA World Rally Championship continues unabated in Sweden next week with the WRC’s annual pure winter fixture.
From February 13-16, some of rallying’s fastest drivers will be put through their paces on the spectacular ice-packed roads of Sweden’s northerly Västerbotten region, the event’s home since 2022.
While the spotlight will shine on the battle to win the 72nd Rally Sweden, the event also marks round one of the five-event FIA Junior WRC Championship. Included on the entry list are FIA Rally Star crews Taylor Gill/Daniel Brkic and Max Smart/Cameron Fair, plus the WRC Young Driver Team pairing of Claire Schönborn/Jara Hain and Lyssia Baudet/Léa Sam-Caw-Freve.
Schönborn and Baudet, who came through WRC Promoter’s Beyond Rally development programme for female drivers, which was run in partnership with the FIA , will go head-to-head to secure the WRC Young Driver Team seat for the remainder of the Junior WRC season.
FIA Rally Star duo Romet Jürgenson/Siim Oja make their first appearances in Rally2-based FIA WRC2 in a Ford Fiesta Rally2 after winning the Rally3-based Junior WRC title in 2024. Swedes Mille Johansson and Johan Grönvall begin their Junior WRC campaign as their prize for winning the 2024 FIA Junior ERC Championship.
Twelve headlining Rally1 cars are entered for Rally Sweden, the second of 14 rounds between January and November. Powered by 100 per cent fossil-free fuel, Rally1 cars have been made lighter, simpler and more affordable for the 2025 season.
Without the plug-in hybrid units deployed over the past three years, the minimum weight of the cars has been lowered from 1260 kilograms to 1180 kilograms. To maintain an equivalent power-to-weight ratio between the 2024 and 2025 Rally1 cars, the air restrictor size has been reduced from 36mm to 35mm.
FIA CEO Alberto Villareal will be attending Rally Sweden when he will meet representatives of the Automobile Sports Federation Svenska Bilsportförbundet and Rally Sweden organising team, WRC manufacturers and partners, plus some of the 4000 volunteers who give up their time without financial reward to make the event happen.
TALKING TYRES
Hankook Tire, the FIA WRC’s new official tyre supplier, is equipping all four-wheel-drive cars contesting Rally Sweden with its Winter i*Pike SR10W tyre. They’re fitted with tungsten-tipped steel studs to bite into the ice coating the road below and give drivers crucial grip.
Drivers also rely on the snowbanks lining the stages for added stability through the high-speed corners. Rally1 teams can use a maximum of 28 tyres for the duration of the event.
SWEDEN’S MAGIC INGREDIENTS
Ice-coated roads, compacted snowbanks and freezing ambient and ground temperatures are Rally Sweden’s magic ingredients. And they’re all expected to be in plentiful supply according to the long-range weather forecasts for host city Umeå and the surrounding countryside.
THE ROUTE IN SHORT
Several changes have been made to the Rally Sweden route for 2025, including the 3.44-kilometre Strandpromenaden Shakedown stage in central Umeå, plus the Andersvattnet and Bäck stages on Friday and Kolksele on Saturday.
Following Shakedown on Thursday morning, the competitive action begins that evening with the first pass of the Umeå Sprint stage, which includes a spectacular closing section at the Red Barn Arena spectator complex.
Three repeated stages either side of service in Umeå make up Friday’s itinerary together with a rerun of the Umeå Sprint stage to round out the day. The two loops begin with the 28.27-kilometre Bygdsiljum test.
Leg two consists of twin visits to the Kolksele, Sarsjöliden and Vännäs stages plus a dress rehearsal of the 10.08-kilometre Umeå Power Stage.
Sunday’s closing third leg is identical to 2024 with two runs through the 29.35-kilometre Västervik test followed by the Umeå Power Stage from 12:15 hrs local time.
RALLY SWEDEN DATA
Stage distance: 300.22 km
Total distance: 1060.05 km
Number of stages: 18
RALLY1 CONTENDERS
Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team
The Korean manufacturer unveils its upgraded Hyundai i20N Rally1 on Rally Sweden, an event it won last season. Reigning champion Thierry Neuville, from Belgium, is joined by Estonian Ott Tänak, the Rally Sweden winner in 2023, plus Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux, who began his Hyundai career with third place on last month’s Rallye Monte-Carlo and scored his breakthrough FIA WRC podium in Sweden 12 months ago.
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team
Luxembourger Grégoire Munster embarks on his second full season at Rally1 level. Josh McErlean, a product of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy, pilots the second Ford Puma Rally1 having stepped up from FIA WRC2. After impressing on three Rally1 outings in 2024, Latvian Mārtiṇš Sesks begins his six-event bid in a third Puma, while Greek Jourdan Serderidis set to make his first WRC start since Central European Rally last October.
Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team
Five Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 cars are entered for the second event running. In the absence of Rallye Monte-Carlo winner Sébastien Ogier, for whom Rally Sweden is not one of his scheduled events in 2025, Briton Elfyn Evans is the highest-seeded Toyota driver followed by Kalle Rovanperä, the two-time FIA WRC champion. Evans and Rovanperä won Rally Sweden in 2020 and 2022 respectively. Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta and Finn Sami Pajari are joined in the Toyota-powered line-up by privateer Lorenzo Bertelli.
SUPPORTING CATEGORIES
Twenty crews are entered in FIA WRC2, while 22 are eligible for FIA WRC3 points, including 12 in FIA Junior to underline the popularity of the FIA World Rally Championship support categories.
Sweden’s Oliver Solberg is the top WRC2 seed in a Printsport-run Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, the car of choice for Estonia’s Georg Linnamäe, Japanese Toyota development drivers Hikaru Kogure and Yuki Yamamoto, plus Finns Roope Korhonen and Tuukka Kauppinen, who became the youngest winner of the recent Arctic Lapland Rally aged 18.
Mikko Heikkilä and fellow Finn Lauri Joona, Swedes Isak Reiersen and Pontus Tidemand, plus Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zaldivar are among the Škoda Fabia RS Rally2-powered drivers entered for Rally Sweden.
FIA Rally Star and Junior WRC champion Romet Jürgenson graduates to WRC2 in a Ford Fiesta Rally2. Rally Sweden rookie Rachele Somaschini is entered in a Citroën C3 Rally2 with leading FIA WRC Masters Cup contender Michał Sołowow competing in a Toyota GR Yaris for the first time.
Not only will Paragayan Diego Domínguez continue his FIA WRC3 title defence on Rally Sweden, he is one of 12 drivers contesting Junior WRC for identical Ford Fiesta Rally3 cars run on Hankook tyres by M-Sport Poland. Turkey’s Ali Türkkan, Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy’s Eamonn Kelly and former circuit racer Tristan Charpentier from France are also entered in Junior WRC.
Mattéo Chatillon (Renault Clio Rally3) and Matteo Fontana (Ford Fiesta Rally3) head the FIA WRC3 entry. – www.fia.com
