Ostberg surprise leader at Rally Sweden shakedown

Ostberg has taken the charge to his WRC rivals at Rally Sweden by setting the fastest time in the shakedown, edging nearest contender Craig Breen by one-tenth of a second. The Norwegian driver secured a privateer M-Sport Ford deal last month to expand Martin Prokop’s squad into a two-car attack for 2017 and immediately looked on the pace with a top shakedown time of 4m 11.6s.

Breen in the factory Citroen C3 Abu Dhabi WRC machine narrowly missed out in second but ahead of Hyundai’s Hayden Paddon and team-mate Kris Meeke.

Dani Sordo was the initial leader in his Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC with a 4m 14.0s but was unable to trump his personal best which saw him slip to fifth overall. The Spaniard’s team-mate Thierry Neuville, who agonisingly missed out on victory at Rallye Monte Carlo last month, claimed sixth ahead of DMACK M-Sport Ford’s Elfyn Evans.

Ott Tanak grabbed eighth overall as Stephane Lefebvre and Jari-Matti Latvala rounded out the top ten in the shakedown in Sweden.

Rallye Monte Carlo winner Sebastien Ogier eased into the event in his M-Sport Ford down in 17th overall – almost 20 seconds off of Ostberg.

Rally Sweden’s SS1 gets underway on Thursday night with the 1.9km SSS Karlstad 1.

2017 Rally Sweden shakedown results (Top 15):

1. Mads Ostberg NOR OneBetJipoCar Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4m 11.6s RC1
2. Craig Breen IRL Citroen DS3 Abu Dhabi WRC 4m 11.7s M
3. Hayden Paddon NZL Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 4m 12.1s M

4, Kris Meeke GBR Citroen C3 Abu Dhabi WRC 4m 12.2s M

5. Dani Sordo ESP Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 4m 14.0s M
6. Thierry Neuville BEL Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 4m 14.5s M
7. Elfyn Evans GBR DMACK M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4m 15.1s M
8. Ott Tanak EST M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4m 16.1s M
9. Stephane Lefebvre FRA Citroen C3 Abu Dhabi WRC 4m 16.1s RC1
10. Jari-Matti Latvala FIN Toyota Yaris Gazoo Racing WRC 4m 16.2s M
11. Henning Solberg NOR Skoda Fabia R5 4m 20.0s RC2
12. Teemu Suninen FIN M-Sport Ford Fiesta R5 4m 23.3s WRC2
13. Pontus Tidemand SWE Skoda Motorsport Fabia R5 4m 24.0s WRC2
14. Eric Camilli FRA M-Sport Ford Fiesta R5 4m 26.5s WRC2
15. Juho Hanninen FIN Toyota Yaris Gazoo Racing WRC 4m 28.4s M