Thierry Neuville has taken Rally Sweden 2018 victory, with Craig Breen achieving his first second-place finish in the World Rally Championship.
Neuville took his first Rally Sweden win after leading from SS3 on Saturday morning and parachutes himself to the top of the championship standings.
Breen ran a consistent rally in difficult wintery conditions, making the most of a differing tyre strategy to the Hyundais on Saturday to keep with the rally leader.
Both Neuville and Breen benefitted from their late running position in the first days of the rally, with Monte Carlo winner Sebastien Ogier and Ott Tanak struggling in their road-sweeping roles in the particularly snowy event.
Andreas Mikkelsen took third, with Esapekka Lappi fourth after a resurgent Sunday morning recovering from a slide into a snowbank that had dropped him down from second earlier in the weekend. The Finn topped the powerstage and claimed the maximum five driver points on offer to sit fourth in the championship.
In his first time out in the car in 2018 Haydon Paddon finished fifth, with Mads Ostberg sixth in his one-off appearance for Citroen. 2017 Rally Sweden winner Jari-Matti Latvala secured seventh.
Tanak in particular was left frustrated by the rally organisers’ job of ploughing the snow and the consequent loss of time. Despite putting in a flurry of stage-topping times he finished only ninth, hindered by a run-in with Kris Meeke when attempting to pass the ailing Citroen that cost him nearly two minutes.
Ogier salvaged a disappointing rally by taking four bonus points on the powerstage, delaying his run and incurring a 30s penalty to do so. With this he dropped to 11th position, allowing team-mate Elfyn Evans to secure the final points position.
Teemu Suninen was the highest placed M-Sport driver in eighth in his first time in the car since Finland last year.
Takamoto Katsuta took WRC2 victory.
