2019 Rally Sweden

2019 Rally Sweden
67. Rally Sweden
Round 2 of 14 in the 2019 World Rally Championship
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Rally Sweden was the only snow event on the World Rally Championship calendar.
Host country Sweden
Rally baseTorsby, Värmland
Dates run14 – 17 February 2019
Start locationKarlstad trotting track, Karlstad
Finish locationTorsby, Värmland
Stages19 (316.80 km; 196.85 miles)[1]
Stage surfaceSnow
Transport distance1,141.42 km (709.25 miles)
Overall distance1,460.59 km (907.57 miles)
Statistics
Crews registered62
Crews61 at start, 55 at finish
Overall results
Overall winnerEstonia Ott Tänak
Estonia Martin Järveoja
Japan Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
2:47:30.0
Power Stage winnerEstonia Ott Tänak
Estonia Martin Järveoja
Japan Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Support category results
WRC-2 winnerNorway Ole Christian Veiby
Sweden Jonas Andersson
Norway Ole Christian Veiby
2:54:04.0
J-WRC winnerSweden Tom Kristensson
Sweden Henrik Appelskog
Sweden Tom Kristensson
3:14:48.9

The 2019 Rally Sweden (also known as the Rally Sweden 2019) (Swedish: Svenska Rallyt 2019) was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 14 and 17 February 2019.[2] It marked the sixty-seventh running of Rally Sweden and was the second round of the 2019 World Rally Championship. It was also the second round of the World Rally Championship-2 and the newly created WRC-2 Pro class, and the first round of the Junior World Rally Championship. The 2019 event was based in the town of Torsby in Värmland County and consists of nineteen special stages. The rally covered a total competitive distance of 319.17 km (198.32 mi).

Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul were the defending rally winners. Their team, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, were the defending manufacturers' winners.[3] Takamoto Katsuta and Marko Salminen were the defending winners in the World Rally Championship-2 category.[4] Denis Rådström and Johan Johansson were the reigning World Rally Championship-3 and defending Junior World Rally Championship winners, but didn't defend their WRC-3 title as the category was discontinued in 2019.[5]

Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja became the fourth non-Nordic crew to win the event. Their team, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, were the manufacturers' winners.[6] The Citroën Total crew of Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen took the victory in the WRC-2 Pro category, while Ole Christian Veiby and Jonas Andersson won the wider WRC-2 class, finishing first in the combined WRC-2 category. This marked the first R5 class victory in the WRC for the new Volkswagen Polo GTI R5.[7] The first round of the J-WRC championship was taken by Tom Kristensson and Henrik Appelskog crew in their maiden appearances.[8]

Jari-Matti Latvala surpassed the record for most starts in the history of the World Rally Championship with his 197th start. The previous record was set by Carlos Sainz, with 196 starts.[9]

  1. ^ "Rally Sweden fakta 2019" (PDF). rallytravels.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  2. ^ "FIA announces World Motor Sport Council decisions". fia.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 12 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  3. ^ "Sunday in Sweden: Neuville Wins in Sweden". wrc.com. WRC. 18 February 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  4. ^ "WRC 2 in Sweden: Katsuta suprises [sic] champion". wrc.com. WRC. 17 February 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  5. ^ "Junior WRC in Sweden: Rådström fights back to win". wrc.com. WRC. 17 February 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  6. ^ "Sunday in Sweden:Victory for ice-cool Tänak". wrc.com. WRC. 17 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  7. ^ "WRC 2 in Sweden:Østberg seals Pro win". wrc.com. WRC. 17 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  8. ^ "Junior WRC in Sweden:Tom's debut delight". wrc.com. WRC. 17 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  9. ^ "Statistics - Driver starts in WRC events". www.juwra.com.