Rally Of Sweden, VW Takes Thrilling Win
Sebastien Ogier emerged victorious in a thrilling Rally Sweden showdown, as Volkswagen team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen threw away a potential maiden World Rally Championship win on the final stage. But a similar fate befell Mikkelsen part-way through the event-closing Varmullsasen power stage, ending his hopes of taking a first WRC victory as Ogier came through to snatch the win, as well as three bonus points for setting the best time on the finale.
Hayden Paddon took a career-best fifth place finish in the second factory Hyundai, a further minute behind Tanak, with the second M-Sport car of Elfyn Evans sixth after he managed to beach his Ford Fiesta in a snow bank on Friday. Jari-Matti Latvala was in strong victory contention, duelling with team-mate Ogier on the early stages of the rally, but the Finn’s hopes were dashed when he lost eight minutes stuck in a snow bank on the final stage of Friday. He ended the rally out of the points in 12th position.
Also enduring a miserable time was Robert Kubica, who dropped out of the points on Friday with a broken propshaft before being handed a five-minute penalty for his Ford Fiesta RS WRC exceeding the maximum permissible boost level, dropping him to 20th overall.
LEADING FINISHERS AFTER SS21:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
| 1 | Sebastien Ogier | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 2h55m30.5s |
| 2 | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 6.4s |
| 3 | Andreas Mikkelsen | Volkswagen Motorsport II | Volkswagen | 39.8s |
| 4 | Ott Tanak | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 2m26.0s |
| 5 | Hayden Paddon | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 3m31.5s |
| 6 | Elfyn Evans | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 3m53.0s |
| 7 | Kris Meeke | Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT | Citroen | 4m05.8s |
| 8 | Martin Prokop | Jipocar Czech National Team | Ford | 4m26.0s |
| 9 | Yuriy Protasov | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 5m32.2s |
| 10 | Mads Ostberg | Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT | Citroen | 6m50.9s |
LEADING POWER STAGE TIMES:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
| 1 | Sebastien Ogier | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 8m05.6s |
| 2 | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 4.8s |
| 3 | Mads Ostberg | Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT | Citroen | 9.9s |
| 4 | Jari-Matti Latvala | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 11.5s |
| 5 | Elfyn Evans | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 15.2s |
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER TWO OF 13 ROUNDS:
| Pos | Driver | Points |
| 1 | Sebastien Ogier | 53 |
| 2 | Thierry Neuville | 30 |
| 3 | Andreas Mikkelsen | 30 |
| 4 | Jari-Matti Latvala | 19 |
| 5 | Mads Ostberg | 14 |
| 6 | Elfyn Evans | 14 |
| 7 | Ott Tanak | 12 |
| 8 | Hayden Paddon | 10 |
| 9 | Kris Meeke | 10 |
| 10 | Daniel Sordo | 8 |
| 11 | Martin Prokop | 6 |
| 12 | Sebastien Loeb | 6 |
| 13 | Yuriy Protasov | 2 |
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