The 2023 Rally Sweden entry list officially announced

With just three days left until the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship season opener will be held in Rallye Monte-Carlo, the organizers of the following round in Rally Sweden 9-12 February have now published the entry list that sees a total of 52 cars taking on the snowy roads of the Umeå region in northeastern Sweden.

Out of the 52 cars entered, there will only be nine Rally1 cars on the start line, eight of them going under factory efforts while one is private. Topping the list is last year´s Rally Sweden winner and 2022 WRC champion Kalle Rovanperä, he will be joined by his Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT teammates Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta, who is taking a step up in the factory team for the first time in his career at this round as Sébastien Ogier will be sitting out in Sweden.

Over at Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, Craig Breen is returning to the team after one year absent as he takes the seat in the third Hyundai i20 N Rally1 and joins Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi. M-Sport Ford WRT who normally brings the most cars to a rally will only field two Ford Puma Rally1 in Sweden for Ott Tänak and Pierre-Louis Loubet.

Lorenzo Bertelli from Italy will be switching over from M-Sport to Toyota for this season, he will be renting a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 as he becomes the first privateer to drive a Toyota.

Over at the WRC2 support category, the defending champion Emil Lindholm is joining back for Toksport WRT in a brand-new Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 and he will have fellow Finn Sami Pajari alongside him in the team. Also joining the Toksport WRT outfit for the rally will be the home hero Oliver Solberg, Marco Bulacia and Nikolay Gryazin.

Hyundai Motorsport N will be making their 2023 season start in Sweden with Teemu Suninen and Fabrizio Zaldivar continuing to drive for the team, however, this season the cars will be managed by the French 2C Competition, known for being a privateer entry in the WRC for some seasons.

Ole Christian Veiby is hoping to win the class this year, he had a close fight with Andreas Mikkelsen last year and came second after losing out the lead in the final stages. He will be joining the class in a Volkswagen Polo GTi R5 fielded by the FIA World Rallycross Championship powerhouse Kristoffersson Motorsport.

Jari Huttunen is also another hot candidate for the rally win, he is no longer with M-Sport but he will be entering in a private Skoda Fabia for Sweden while last year´s Junior WRC champion Robert Virves will be stepping up to WRC2 for M-Sport in the prize giving Ford Fiesta Rally2. Lauri Joona who became the WRC3 champion will also take the step up in a Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo.

FIA Junior World Rally Championship will begin its 2023 season in Sweden, as well as the WRC3 class with entrants including Roope Korhonen, Toni Herranen, and Jesse Kallio while nine drivers are set to take on the JWRC class in M-Sport Poland built Ford Fiesta Rally3s.

2023 Rally Sweden entry list