Rally Sweden will take place next weekend, although with a severely reduced route totalling 180km of stage miles.
The event was in doubt over recent days after a lack of snowfall and warm temperatures in the Värmland area of the country and in neighbouring Norway, but after an inspection by FIA sporting delegate Timo Rautiainen, the WRC’s only purely winter event will still take place over four days.
Action will get underway as originally planned with a special stage in Karlstad on Thursday evening, but Friday and Saturday will now run identical routes with Norway’s Hof-Finnskog and Finnskogen stages and the Nyckelvattnet test in Sweden making up the itinerary before the traditional Torsby Sprint stage completes each day of action.
The final day of the event meanwhile now only features two running’s of the Likenas stage, with the second being used as the Power Stage.
Rally Sweden CEO Glenn Olsson said on the news: “It’s fantastic to be able to confirm Rally Sweden will go ahead. Many people have worked extremely hard over the last few days so that we can reach this position, and I’m delighted that fans, TV viewers and competitors will be able to enjoy one of the WRC’s most spectacular and fastest fixtures.”
“We will welcome fans into the forests as planned. Those who are unable to attend the event in person will be able to enjoy live global TV coverage on Saturday and Sunday, as well as the live streaming of all stages on WRC+ All Live.”
2020 Rally Sweden, the second round of the FIA World Rally Championship, will take place next weekend between January 13-16.
