After taking a clean win at Rallye Monte-Carlo, Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen continued their form as they took victory again in the WRC 2 class in Sweden. With this second victory in succession, the Norwegian is at the top of the standing in the championship.
In doubt for several weeks due to the mild temperatures and a general lack of snow and ice, Rally Sweden took place thanks to the hard work and dedication of the organisers.
With only 9 stages this became one of history’s shortest WRC rally. It all started by cutting the stages down to just 11, with the organisers having to cancel both SSS1 at Karlstad and the first run of Likenäs on Sunday.
Marking his fourteenth time competing in Rally Sweden, Østberg used his vast experience to grab the WRC 2 category lead on Friday, before the Norwegian went on to win six more stages to secure an undisputed victory.
“It wasn’t a typical Rally Sweden, because in the end there was a lot of gravel and virtually no snow, but we managed to adapt to the conditions and put in a good performance this weekend.” Østberg said.
“I knew the standard would be very high, with a lot of very good Scandinavian drivers taking part, but we grabbed the lead of the WRC2 early on and managed to hold onto it until the end. We’re really pleased with the result.”
“The car has also made a big step forward on these stages compared with last year and that’s also very positive. We’re now going to make the most of this long break between now and Rally Portugal to keep working hard to make the C3 R5 even quicker and keep up the momentum.”
“First of all, I would like to pay tribute to the organisers, who have done a fantastic job and went to great lengths to make sure that the rally went ahead. Having said that, the conditions were nonetheless very tricky, but Mads and Torstein were able to keep out of trouble.” Didier Clément, Head of Customer Racing at Citroën Racing, said.
“They managed their race with great intelligence in a C3 R5 that has made undeniable progress since its maiden outing in Sweden last year. This second win in a row is the ideal start to our WRC2 programme. We’ll be doing our utmost to keep the momentum going, because the target is for Mads to win the title in the C3 R5.”
