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An attempt by mads Ostberg to set a new jump distance record from rally Sweden's 'Colin's crest' on Saturday failed when he came up one meter short.

Since 2009 rally organisers have presented the Colin's Crest Award, named in honour of 1995 World Champion Colin McRae, to the driver who jumps furthest from the huge crest close to the end of the Vargåsen stage.

Driving his 2017-spec Ford Fiesta WRC, Ostberg tried to beat the current record of 45 metres set by fellow Norwegian Eyvind Brynildsen at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta R5 in 2016

On the first pass on Saturday morning (SS11), Ostberg recorded a distance of 42 meters and pledged to push harder on the second attempt. But while his repeat performance on stage 14 bagged him this year's award for longest jump, at 44 metres - or 12 Fiesta car lengths - it narrowly missed the record.

"I lost the line on the corner before the crest, got on the snow and lost speed," Ostberg explained.

"I was thinking about he jump all the way through the stage so I was really upset. Of course I wanted the record - it was the most important thing in the world! I couldn't stand up to the pressure, apparently..."

Brynildsen also tried to beat his own record but without any luck. "I was absolutely flat-out but I couldn't build up enough speed," he said.

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Jari-Matti Latvala was the early leader of Rally Sweden after outgunning Sébastien Ogier in the headline heat at Thursday night’s opening speed test in Karlstad.

Sweeping bends, a spectacular jump and a great atmosphere are the hallmarks of Karlstad’s horse trotting track. Drivers tackle two laps of the test in head-to-head duels.

The Finn, driving a Toyota Yaris, stopped the clock 0.9sec quicker than Rally Monte-Carlo winner Ogier in their head-to-head duel around the 1.90km special stage at the town’s trotting track.

Ogier’s time in a Ford Fiesta put him in fifth, as less than a second covered the leading five drivers over the sweeping bends of the ice-covered track.

Asked if everything was great, Latvala answered: “Everything is more than great, now I just need to hold the horses. I’ll just try to get a good rhythm tomorrow, that’s the important thing.”

The Finn, who finished second in Monte-Carlo, was 0.6sec clear of Thierry Neuville’s Hyundai i20 Coupe. The Belgian edged out Ott Tänak by 0.2sec in their heat, but Neuville wasn’t satisfied with his evening’s work.

“I used my shakedown tyres, which are not so nice but good enough to do the stage,” he said. “It wasn’t a perfect stage, but good enough. I wasn’t so happy with the balance. It’s quite tricky out there, I planned to do better than that.”

Sandwiched between Neuville and Tänak’s Fiesta in the standings was Dani Sordo, who beat Craig Breen. Rounding off the top six was Mads Østberg, quickest in this morning’s shakedown, who defeated Kris Meeke’s Citroën C3.

Nobody encountered major problems, although Hayden Paddon brushed a tyre barrier en route to 11th fastest.

Most of tomorrow’s action is in Norway. Two identical loops of three stages include the cross-border Röjden which starts and finishes in Sweden, with the middle section in its neighbouring country. Just the final Torsby test runs entirely in Sweden. The seven stages cover 145.65km.

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Jari-Matti Latvala was the surprise leader of rally Sweden on Saturday night after Thierry Neuville crashed out of top spot in the final speed test.

Neuville held a comfortable advantage before ripping the left front wheel from his Hyundai i20 Coupe after going off the road in the short special stage at Karlstad trotting track.

His demise left the Finn with a slender 3.8sec lead in his Toyota Yaris over the rapidly closing Ott Tänak with just Sunday’s short finale remaining. World champion Sébastien Ogier was only 12.8sec further back in third.

It is the second rally in a row in which the Belgian has crashed out of a secure lead. He hit a drainage culvert and broke his suspension in last month’s season-opening Rally Monte-Carlo - ironically, that also happened in Saturday’s final stage.
Having pulled clear of Latvala late on Friday, Neuville measured his pace on snow and ice-covered forest roads and his lead hovered around 30sec. Victory in the penultimate speed test increased his advantage to 43.3sec before his error.


A thin layer of overnight snow ensured drivers struggled for grip and Latvala couldn’t match yesterday’s pace. He regretted his decision to carry two spare wheels this morning as Tänak closed in with an impressive hat-trick of stage wins in his Ford Fiesta.

“I carried too much weight at the back and lost time in the long corners,” said Latvala.

Freed from opening the roads in the worst of the conditions, Ogier quickly demoted Kris Meeke from fourth. But the Frenchman admitted he couldn’t find the speed he hoped for.

Meeke was a comfortable fifth in his Citroën C3 before diving off the road and down a small bank in the penultimate test. Fans lifted his car back onto the track but more than eight minutes passed before he continued and he plunged off the leaderboard.

His mistake promoted Dani Sordo into fourth, the Spaniard 25.0sec clear of Craig Breen. After an error-strewn day yesterday, Breen was mistake-free as his confidence grew ‘step-by-step’ on his C3 debut.

Elfyn Evans was sixth ahead of Hayden Paddon who drove all morning with no power steering in his i20 Coupe. He lost almost four minutes, comparing driving the car to ‘wrestling a 400lb lion’.

Stéphane Lefebvre, WRC 2 leader Pontus Tidemand and Teemu Suninen completed the leaderboard, while Neuville will restart tomorrow in 13th with a 10-minute penalty.

Speeds were high and after the opening Knon test was won at an average of 137kph, the afternoon’s repeat pass was cancelled for safety reasons.

Sunday’s final leg is the shortest with just three stages covering 58.81km. Two passes through Likenäs precede the live TV Power Stage at Torsby, which offers bonus points to the fastest five drivers.

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Sweden is a rally Breen knows well, and he has tackled it more times than his team-mates Kris Meeke and Stéphane Lefebvre.

The Irishman will step up to a C3 this weekend after driving a 2016-spec DS 3 to an impressive fifth place at January's Rallye Monte-Carlo.

"Now I get to try the big car - which feels like I'm having an affair with the other car's sister," Breen joked today.

"It's an awesome feeling. The car is fantastic to drive and I'm taking so much pleasure from every kilometre behind the wheel. Starting a new chapter in my career here in Sweden is something I'm really happy about."

Breen and his co-driver Scott Martin got off to a great start at the pre-event Shakedown, recording the best performance for the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT with the second fastest time overall, a tenth of a second off Mads Østberg's lead pace.

He said: "Shakedown was really good. Scott and I felt we had a good rhythm and the car was going well. I feel a bit like a child waiting for Christmas morning now - I just want to get started."

"This is my fifth time doing this rally, and it's the rally where I have the most experience. In theory, that should mean I can do someting special, but at the same time it's a big step up," he explained.

"Even though it's my third time here in a World Rally Car it's only my ninth rally ever in a World Rally Car - so we still have a lot of things to learn." 

Ahead of his first stage in the C3, Thursday night's Super Special at Karlstad racecourse, Breen said he was keeping his nerves under control:

"This chance is something I've waited all my life for, so of course I'm a bit nervous, but whenever the nerves kick in and I feel under pressure, I always go back to the same thing: The chance to drive these cars and be part of this team is so rare, so unique, there's no point in getting clouded over by the pressure or stressed. You might as well get out there and enjoy the thing.

"You're getting to drive hundreds of thousands of Euros worth of World Rally Car down some of the best stages in the world, so you may as well have a spring in your step and enjoy it. And if the result is good, then we have a few beers at the end. If not, then we have to work a bit harder. It's the best job in the world."

 

 

         

 

 

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