The 2020 Rally Sweden (also known as the Rally Sweden 2020) () was a

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

event for

rally cars Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sports ...

that was held over four days between 13 and 16 February 2020. It marked the sixty-eighth running of

Rally Sweden The Rally Sweden (), formerly the KAK-Rally, the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, as a ...

and was the second round of the

2020 World Rally Championship The 2020 FIA World Rally Championship was the forty-eighth season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Teams and crews competed in seven rallies for the Li ...

World Rally Championship-2 The FIA WRC2 is a support championship of the World Rally Championship (WRC). The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after Rally1 class crews. WRC2 is limited to production ...

and

World Rally Championship-3 The FIA WRC3 is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after WRC2 entrants. Entry into WRC3 is limited to cars that ...

. It was also the first round of the

Junior World Rally Championship The FIA Junior WRC Championship is an international rallying series restricted to drivers under 29 years old, running within the framework of the World Rally Championship. The series is governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobi ...

. The 2020 event was based in the town of

Torsby Torsby () is a locality and the seat of Torsby Municipality in Värmland County, Sweden with 4,049 inhabitants in 2010. Fortum Ski Tunnel Torsby, the world's longest ski tunnel, is located in Torsby. There is an airport located near the locali ...

Värmland County Värmland County () is a county or '' län'' in west central Sweden. It borders the Swedish counties of Dalarna, Örebro and Västra Götaland, as well as the Norwegian counties of Østfold, Akershus and Innlandet to the west. The title of Duke ...

and consists of eleven special stages. The rally was scheduled to cover a total competitive distance of , but was shortened to due to a lack of snow.

Ott Tänak Ott Tänak (; born 15 October 1987) is an Estonian rally driver and the 2019 World Rally Champion. He is currently teamed with Martin Järveoja and is competing for Hyundai Motorsport in the World Rally Championship. Tänak achieved his maiden ...

and

Martin Järveoja Martin Järveoja (; born 18 August 1987) is an Estonian rally co-driver. He is currently teamed with Ott Tänak and is competing for Hyundai Motorsport in the World Rally Championship. Rally career He is the son of Estonian politician Toomas ...

were the defending rally winners.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT The Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team is a competitor of the World Rally Championship (WRC) based in Finland, serving as the entry for the car manufacturer Toyota. Its team principal is former WRC driver Jari-Matti Latvala and its drivers for ...

, the team they drove for in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, were the defending manufacturers' winners.

Mads Østberg Mads Østberg (born 11 October 1987) is a Norway, Norwegian Rallying, rally driver. His co-driver is Torstein Eriksen. Career Østberg competed in his first rally in 2004. His first World Rally Championship event was the 2006 Swedish Rally, in ...

and

Torstein Eriksen Torstein Eriksen (born 29 April 1990) is a rallying co-driver from Norway. He is currently teamed with Andreas Mikkelsen and is competing for Toksport WRT in the World Rally Championship-2. Rally career Torstein Eriksen began his rally career i ...

were the defending winners in the World Rally Championship-2 category.

Ole Christian Veiby Ole Christian Veiby is a professional rally driver from Norway driving for Hyundai Motorsport in the WRC-2 category of the World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned ...

and Jonas Andersson were the reigning World Rally Championship-3 winners, but are not defending their WRC-3 title as they joined the WRC-2 category in 2020.

Tom Kristensson Tom Krister Kristensson (born 30 April 1991) is a Swedish rally driver, who drives in the Junior World Rally Championship. He is originally from Lund, but now lives in Hörby Hörby () is a locality and the seat of Hörby Municipality, Sk� ...

and

Henrik Appelskog Henrik is a male given name of Germanic origin, primarily used in Scandinavia, Finland, Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia. In Poland, the name is spelt Henryk but pronounced similarly. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Heiki (Estoni ...

were the defending winners in the Junior World Rally Championship.

Elfyn Evans Elfyn Rhys Evans (born 28 December 1988) is a Welsh professional rallying, rally driver. He has competed full-time in World Rally Championship since 2014, originally for M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, M-Sport Ford and currently for Toyota Gazoo ...

and Scott Martin were the overall winners of the rally, winning the Rally Sweden for the first time. Their team,

, were the manufacturers' winners.

and

successfully defended their titles in the WRC-2 category.

Jari Huttunen Jari Huttunen (born 28 February 1994) is a Finnish rally driver from Kiuruvesi. He currently competes in the World Rally Championship-2, the premier support category of the World Rally Championship, for M-Sport Ford World Rally Team. He gained n ...

and

Mikko Lukka Mikko Lukka (born 25 May 1974) is a Finnish rally co-driver. He is the co-driver of compatriot Jari Huttunen. They are the champions of the 2020 World Rally Championship-3 The 2020 FIA WRC3 Championship was the seventh season of WRC3, a rally ...

were the winners in the WRC-3 category, while

and

won the junior class.

Background

Championship standings prior to the event

Thierry Neuville Thierry Jean Neuville ( ; born 16 June 1988) is a Belgian rally driver who is competing in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. During his career, he has finished as runner-up five times (2013, 2016–2019) and achieved his maiden ...

and

Nicolas Gilsoul Nicolas Gilsoul (born 5 February 1982) is a Belgian rally co-driver. He is the former co-driver for Thierry Neuville and the current co-driver for Pierre-Louis Loubet.

entered the round with an eight-point lead over the six-time world champions

Sébastien Ogier Sébastien Eugène Emile Ogier (; born 17 December 1983) is a French Rallying, rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC). He is currently teamed with co-driver Vincent Landais. He has won 8 List ...

and

Julien Ingrassia Julien Ingrassia (born 26 November 1979) is a retired French people, French rally (sports), rally co-driver. Working with Sébastien Ogier, he became World Rally Champion in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 with Volkswagen Motorsport, 2017 World Rall ...

and Scott Martin were third, a further five points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, defending manufacturers' champions Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT held a two-point lead over

, followed by M-Sport Ford WRT. In the World Rally Championship-2 standings,

and

held a seven-point lead ahead of

Adrien Fourmaux Adrien Fourmaux (born 3 May 1995) is a French professional rally driver. After contesting the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) for M-Sport Ford in the WRC Rally1 category driving the Ford Puma, Fourmaux joins Hyundai Motorsport for 2025 t ...

and

Renaud Jamoul Renaud Jamoul (born 10 June 1984) is a Belgian rallying co-driver. He currently co-drives former Formula One driver Jos Verstappen in the 2025 European Rally Championship. Jamoul previously partnered with Adrien Fourmaux for M-Sport Ford Worl ...

in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively, with

Nikolay Gryazin Nikolay Stanislavovich Gryazin ( rus, Николай Станиславович Грязин, p=nʲɪkɐˈɫaɪ̯ stənʲɪˈsɫavəvʲɪt͡ɕ ˈɡrʲæzʲɪn; born 7 October 1997) is a Russian-Bulgarian rally driver currently competing under a ...

and

Yaroslav Fedorov Yaroslav () is a Slavic masculine given name. Its variant spelling is Jaroslav and Iaroslav, and its feminine form is Yaroslava. The surname derived from the name is Yaroslavsky and its variants. East Slavic patronymics are Yaroslavovich and Ya ...

in third. In the manufacturer' championship, M-Sport Ford WRT led

PH-Sport PH Sport is a motorsport services company based in Langres, France, established in 1990. The company has a history of entering national and international Rallying, rallies and championships such as the World Rally Championship, often in close co ...

by five points. In the World Rally Championship-3 standings,

Eric Camilli Eric Camilli (born 6 September 1987) is a French rally driver. He has competed in the World Rally Championship since 2014. After starting out in the lower levels, he made his debut in the top level in 2016 while driving for M-Sport in a Ford F ...

and

François-Xavier Buresi François-Xavier is a French masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: * François-Xavier Archambault (1841–1893), a lawyer and political figure in Quebec * François-Xavier Audouin (1765–1837), a French clergyman and politic ...

led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by seven points respectively.

Nicolas Ciamin Nicolas Ciamin (born 18 February 1998) is a French rally driver. Biography Nicolas Ciamin is the son of Gilles Ciamin, a French champion in motorcycle trials Motorcycle trials, also known as observed trials, often called simply trial or tr ...

and

Yannick Roche Yannick is a first name that originated in Brittany, France, where the combination of its two Breton language parts, ''Yann'' and ''-ick'', results in the meaning of ''Little John'' or ''Petit Jean'' in French. It is used as a first name mostly fo ...

were second, with Yoann Bonato and

Benjamin Boulloud Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...

in third in both standings, a further three points behind.

Entry list

The following crews were entered into the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, its support categories, the World Rally Championship-2, World Rally Championship-3, and Junior World Rally Championship and

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

entries that were not registered to score points in any championship. Fifty-five entries were received, with eleven crews entered in World Rally Cars, six Group R5 cars entered in the World Rally Championship-2, sixteen in the World Rally Championship-3. A further sixteen crews were entered in the Junior World Rally Championship in

Ford Fiesta R2 The Ford Fiesta Rally4 is a rally car developed and built by M-Sport and Ford Performance to FIA Group Rally4 regulations and designed for competition in the fourth tier of the Rally Pyramid. It is based upon the Ford Fiesta road car and is ...

Route

The brand-new Nyckelvattnet stage was introduced into the rally. The Finnskogen stage, which runs across the border in Norway, returned to the itinerary. The Svullrya, Röjden and Rämmen stages, which were featured in the 2019 rally, were not included in the 2020 route. The route was heavily revised in the week before the rally. Eight stages were cancelled due to unseasonably light snowfall in the region; tyre supplier

Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is an Italian multinational tyre manufacturer based in the city of Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Borsa Italiana since 1922, is the 5th-largest tyre manufacturer, and is focused on the consumer pro ...

provided teams with studded tyres designed for driving on snow and ice, but without the expected snowfalls, the winter studs would be unable to properly grip the road surface. The changes to the route saw the second leg of the rally cancelled and the first leg split in two and run over separate days.

Original itinerary

All dates and times are

CET CET or cet may refer to: Places * Cet, Albania * Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus * Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England Arts, entertainment, and media * Comcast En ...

(

UTC+1 +01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time * West Africa Time * Western European Summer Time **Brit ...

Revised itinerary

All dates and times are

(

Report

World Rally Cars

and Scott Martin broke clear in the lead to win the rally. Defending world champions

and

inherited second after

Kalle Rovanperä Kalle Rovanperä (; born 1 October 2000) is a Finnish professional rally driver who competes in the World Rally Championship (WRC) for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, alongside co-driver Jonne Halttunen. He is a double World Champion, having won the 20 ...

and

Jonne Halttunen Jonne Halttunen (born 13 December 1985) is a Finnish rally (sports), rally co-driver. Currently, he is the co-driver of Kalle Rovanperä, driving the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. Previously, they represented Škoda Motorsport to participate in the 20 ...

dropping vital seconds when he stalled his engine in the final test of Friday.

Jari-Matti Latvala Jari-Matti Latvala (; born 3 April 1985) is a Finnish rally driver who has competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC). His co-driver for most of his career was Miikka Anttila, who co-drove for Latvala between the 2003 Rallye Deutschland and ...

made his championship return with ex-driver

Juho Hänninen Juho Ville Matias Hänninen (born 25 July 1981) is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) champion and 2011 Super 2000 World Rally Championship (S-WRC) champion with co-driver Mikko Markkula driving a work ...

, but they retired from the rally due to mechanical issue.

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

World Rally Championship-2

and Jonas Andersson took an early lead, but

and

gained the top spot after they overcame

brake A brake is a machine, mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for Acceleration, slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of ...

issues to win the class.

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

World Rally Championship-3

Emil Lindholm and Mikael Korhonen led WRC-3 after a trouble-free run, but they lost their lead to the eventual category winners

and

. Roland Poom and Ken Järveoja retired from the rally with a big accident.

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

Junior World Rally Championship

and Joakim Sjöberg held a healthy lead throughout the rally to seal the win.

Jon Armstrong Jon Thomas Armstrong (born 1 August 1974) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England. Career Armstrong started racing in the British leagues during the 1992 British League season, when riding a couple of times in the reserve berth fo ...

and Noel O'Sullivan suffered a horrible high-speed crash, but they both walked away unharmed.

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

Notes

References

External links

*
2020 Rally Sweden
at ewrc-results.com * Th
official website
of the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rally Sweden, 2020 2020 in Swedish motorsport

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

2020 in Swedish sport February 2020 in Sweden February 2020 sports events in Europe

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

21st century in Värmland County