Elfyn Evans sealed his second FIA World Rally Championship victory on Sunday afternoon, while Kalle Rovanperä beat Sebastien Ogier to third after winning the Power Stage on Rally Sweden.
Evans made no mistake on the only stage on Sunday and ended the event 12.7 seconds ahead of Ott Tänak to win his first round of the championship since Wales Rally GB back in 2017, although did only take a sixth-fastest Power Stage time.
The Welshman now also leads the championship, despite being tied on points with Thierry Neuville due to his stronger finishing position in Monte Carlo compared to the Belgian’s finish in Sweden.
The Power Stage also saw late drama for third, with Rovanperä setting a blistering time 3.7 seconds faster than anyone else to snatch third from Toyota teammate Ogier after the pair had battled throughout the weekend.
Third also means it’s a first podium finish for the 19-year-old, at the same place nineteen years ago where his dad Harri took a memorable victory.
In the battle for fifth, Esapekka Lappi held off Neuville, despite the Belgian’s best efforts to secure a second successive top-five result. The margin was reduced to just 1.4 seconds between them though.
Craig Breen, Teemu Suninen and Takamoto Katsuta completed the WRC finishers, while Jari Huttunen secured tenth overall and the win in WRC3 ahead of weekend-long rival Emil Lindholm – the pair being split by just 5.0 seconds by the end of the Power Stage.
Mads Østberg made no mistake during the final stage of the rally to win WRC2 for the second round in a row, with the podium being completed by Ole Christian Veiby and Pontus Tidemand.
The Junior WRC class meanwhile was won by Tom Kristensson ahead of Mārtiņš Sesks, with third being taken by Ken Torn after Lauri Joona lost over three minutes on the final stage of the event.
Round three of the 2020 FIA World Rally Championship, Rally Mexico, takes place between March 12-15.
