Rally Sweden review: Latvala earns Toyota's first WRC win of the millennium

Finnish driver Jari-Matti Latvala accomplished a convincing win at Rally Sweden, the second round of the 2017 World Rally Championship calendar, which took place over the weekend.
Latvala’s win in his Yaris represents an enormous achievement for Toyota. This is the firm’s second event with the new car, and its first win in top-flight rallying since 1999 and the era of Carlos Sainz in a Corolla WRC.
Estonia’s Ott Tanak came second by around 30 seconds, while Frenchman Sebastien Ogier was almost a minute off the lead.

Ott Tanak of Estonia finished second in a Ford Fiesta Credit: Getty Images

Dani Sordo brought his Hyundai to 4^th against a backdrop of disappointment for the Korean manufacturer, and was followed by Ireland’s Craig Breen and Briton Elfyn Evans.
Hayden Paddon, whose Monte Carlo round was marred by tragedy when his Hyundai i20 hit a spectator, came 8^th, but it was teammate Thierry Neuville who sustained the most crushing defeat at Saturday’s superspecial stage – he plunged from 1^st to 13^th after damaging his car with only a few stages to go, something of a bitter tradition for the Belgian.
"The tyre hit something, a truck tyre, and I lost the steering,” he said. “At that point, the rally was finished.”

Latvala celebrates his triumph in Karlstad, the base for Rally Sweden 2017 Credit: Getty Images

The event was not short of drama. One stage was cancelled by organisers following FIA advice, as the new-style cars were tackling the route dangerously fast, while Østberg fell just 1m short of beating the airborne distance record at Colin’s Crest.
Latvala now leads the championship with 48 points, followed relatively closely by Ogier with 44. Estonian Ott Tanak has scored 33 points so far.
In the teams’ championship, M-Sport is clearly dominating, with plucky re-entrants Toyota coming up second.  
Source :  www.telegraph.co.uk