Tanak fastest through Stage 1 in Sweden

Ott Tanak has led a Toyota one-two on the first stage of Rally Sweden.

Tanak beat Jari-Matti Latvala by 0.3s on the 1.9km circuit within Karlstad’s horse trotting track, with Citroen’s Mads Ostberg the same margin further back again.

“This is one of my favourite events and especially this year because there’s so much snow,” said Tanak, currently second in the World Rally Championship.

“I enjoyed that stage a lot. More snow is possible tonight but whatever happens we’ll push hard tomorrow.

“Tomorrow is key for us, if we can manage that then the rest of the weekend will be more enjoyable.”

Hayden Paddon was seventh-fastest in his first WRC start of the season in the #6 Hyundai i20.

Championship leader Sebastien Ogier set the ninth-quickest time after a slightly untidy finish in his M-Sport Ford.

Craig Breen (Citroen) rounded out the top 10 with a time 2.9s off the lead pace.

Friday (local time) takes the field through the snowy forests of Sweden and Norway for 140.10km of special stage running across seven stages.

Rally Sweden: After Special Stage 1 (Top 10)

Pos	Num	Driver	Nat	Team	Car		Time/Gap
1	8	Ott Tanak	EST	Toyota Gazoo	Yaris WRC		1:32.7
2	7	Jari-Matti Latvala	FIN	Toyota Gazoo	Yaris WRC		+0.3
3	12	Mads Ostberg	NOR	Citroen	C3 WRC		+0.6
4	10	Kris Meeke	GBR	Citroen	C3 WRC		+0.9
5	4	Andreas Mikkelsen	NOR	Hyundai	i20 WRC		+0.9
6	5	Thierry Neuville	BEL	Hyundai	i20 WRC		+1.0
7	6	Hayden Paddon	NZL	Hyundai	i20 WRC		+2.1
8	9	Esapekka Lappi	FIN	Toyota Gazoo	Yaris WRC		+2.2
9	1	Sebastien Ogier	FRA	M-Sport Ford	Fiesta WRC		+2.5
10	11	Craig Breen	IRL	Citroen	C3 WRC		+2.9