M-Sport World Rally Team's Ott Tänak and Elfyn
Evans had to contend with inconsistent grip levels through the morning loop on
Rally Sweden, and bided their time. Knowing all too well how unforgiving the
Swedish stages can be, the pairing adopted an intelligent approach – opting for
a risk-free strategy.
Running eleventh car on the
road, Tänak and co-driver Raigo Mõlder found themselves with the worst of the
road conditions. The second pass proved more fruitful, but with more gravel
exposed by the cars ahead, they had to reign in their speed to protect the
studs.
In the sister M-Sport Fiesta RS WRC, Evans benefitted from a more
advantageous road position than his team mate and made the most of the more
predictable grip levels. He significantly increased his seconds per kilometre compared
to the rally leaders.
Having made a considerable step-up in performance from this time
last year, Evans and co-driver Daniel Barritt were happy with their pace –
albeit ruing yesterday's misjudgement under braking which cost them two minutes.
Elfyn
commented: "It was a difficult morning and we lost
a lot of time in the first loop. We didn't have the confidence but this
afternoon has been a lot better. The times have been a lot more promising and
more where they should be to be honest. I think it mostly comes from being a
bit more relaxed but the conditions have also been a bit more predictable which
helped. We're still lacking some confidence in places, so we'll work to put
that right tomorrow."
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