Rally Sweden is set for a bumper entry of 67 cars this year as the organisers revealed the entry list.
The 2017 edition of the rally saw 46 cars take on the challenging stages, so the increase of nearly 50% has been welcomed.
There will be 24 different countries represented, and along with Rally Sweden Historic the total number of entries rises to 131 competitors.
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team head up the WRC class with reigning champion Sébastien Ogier with Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suninen doing the most to maximise manufacturer points.
Hyundai Motorsport will be fielding Thierry Neuville, Andreas Mikkelsen and Hayden Paddon, while Jari-Matti Latvala, Ott Tänak and Esapekka Lappi comepete for Toyota Gazoo Racing.
Mads Østberg joins the Citroën Abu Dhabi line up of Kris Meeke and Craig Breen for his only confirmed event of 2018 so far.
Supporting classes looking competitive
Credit: Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool
In the WRC2 class reigning champion Pontus Tidemand is back with Fredrik Åhlin and Ole Christian Veiby also featuring in the 15 entries.
Junior WRC will make its season debut at Rally Sweden, with 14 entries in to the series, with an additional two entries outside of JWRC bringing the WRC3 class up to 16 competitors.
Swede’s Emil Bergkvist and Dennis Rådström are amongst the the competitors competing for the JWRC victory.
Large historic field forces waiting list
An increased interest in Rally Sweden Historic has given organisers a headache as they became a victim of their own success.
“It is the timespan between the WRC running the stages we have to fill, and right now we see that we can fit 54 cars into that,” explained Johan Magnusson, Route Manager for Rally Sweden.
“We have placed 10 Swedish B and C drivers on a waiting list and will add entrants from this list to the rally as we receive withdrawals.
“All will be given a start number and be put in the entry list since the possibility that everyone will start still exists, says Hasse Joansson, Clerk of the Course for Rally Sweden Historic.”
The full entry list will be published on Friday after approval by the FIA, while Rally Sweden gets underway on Thursday 15 February with the traditional Karlstad Super Special Stage.
