Can Solberg extend 2026 win streak on home snow at WRC Rally Sweden?

Oliver Solberg starts this weekend’s Rally Sweden leading the FIA World Rally Championship points. But with that lead comes the challenge of starting the opening leg first and playing the role of road sweeper on what promises to be one of the fastest all-snow events in WRC history.

Fresh from a dominant victory on last month’s season-opening Monte Carlo Rally last month – his first start as a full-time Toyota factory driver – the 24-year-old Swede arrives in Umea not just as the local favorite, but as the man everyone is chasing.

After Solberg finished fastest on Thursday’s opening stage (above), beating Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans by 3.8s over the 6.36-mile Umea 1 test, the script could hardly be better written – yet the challenge ahead is anything but straightforward for the GR Yaris Rally1 driver.

“To go to my home rally leading the championship is something crazy that I couldn’t have dreamed of,” said Solberg. “It’s an amazing feeling, but I’m still taking everything rally by rally. Rally Sweden has always been my favorite rally of the year – it’s the most fun that you can have in a rally car.”

A prolonged cold snap across the Vasterbotten region has delivered a rock-solid frozen base to the stages. Armed with studded tires from the WRC’s sole supplier Hankook, grip levels for the headlining Rally1 machinery are expected to be high and average speeds correspondingly fierce as the stages thread through the snowbank-lined forest roads north of Umea.

But there is a twist. With less fresh snowfall than in recent editions, the famous snowbanks are lower and less forgiving. The soft cushions drivers often lean on to rotate the car at high speed could offer far less margin for error this time.

And for Solberg, his road position adds another layer of complexity.

“Starting first on the road in Sweden is maybe not always the best place to be,” he admitted of a situation that, especially on the first pass through a stage, means Solberg’s Yaris is blowing away the loose snow and providing a potential advantage for the cars behind. “Maybe on some stages I can have an advantage, and on others maybe not. I can only hope for good conditions, do my best and drive as fast as I can.”

Two-time Sweden winner Evans will be eager to respond after a solid second place-earning performance on the Monte, albeit one that was a step behind Solberg’s rally-winning pace. Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari add further depth to the Toyota Gazoo Racing factory line-up as both continue their quest for a first top-level WRC win. Privateer Lorenzo Bertelli, hailing from Italy, completes a five-car GR Yaris Rally1 fleet, but isn’t expected to feature in the fight for the podium as he looks to build experience on the snow and – yes, it’s allowed – enjoy the WRC’s only true winter rally.

Elfyn Evans is a two-time Rally Sweden winner. The Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver will be looking to make up ground on teammate Oliver Solberg. Toyota Gazoo Racing photo

Hyundai Motorsport arrives in Umea determined to strike back after a disappointing Monte Carlo Rally in which Adrien Fourmaux finished best of the factory i20 N Rally1s in fourth, albeit six minutes off Solberg’s winning time. Full-season entries Fourmaux and 2024 WRC champ Thierry Neuville finished with the top-two times in the pre-rally shakedown stage, giving signs for optimism. They’re joined by Esapekka Lappi, a former Sweden winner who returns to the event where he triumphed in 2024. Starting further down the order, Lappi could benefit from cleaner lines on Friday’s opening leg.

M-Sport Ford fields a trio of Puma Rally1s and welcomes the return of Latvian rising star Martins Sesks, who gets his 2026 part-season campaign under way after leading in his last WRC outing, last year’s season-closing Rally Saudi Arabia. Josh McErlean and Jon Armstrong, the Rally1 rookie fresh off a head-turning debut on the Monte, complete the line-up.

Esapekka Lappi brings Rally Sweden-winning experience to Hyundai’s line-up, adding firepower to the full-season entries of Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux. Red Bull Content Pool

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, reigning FIA Junior WRC champ Mille Johansson steps up to the class for the first time on his home snow.

Johansson and co-driver Johan Gronvall will contest a four-round WRC2 program in an M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2, with outings in Croatia, Portugal and Finland to come.

Johansson faces a formidable WRC2 field in Sweden, headlined by some experienced and established specialists. Chief among them is Teemu Suninen, who returns to the class in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 looking to re-establish himself at the front of the category. The former Rally1 WRC podium finisher provides a clear benchmark for the next-gen talent taking on the event.

Finland is, as expected, well represented, with Roope Korhonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2), Mikko Heikkila (Skoda Fabia RS) and Lauri Joona (Skoda Fabia RS) all capable of challenging their countryman, Suninen, on Sweden’s high-speed snow.

Junior WRC champ Mille Johansson makes his first ever WRC2 start on his home snow, driving a Ford Fiesta Rally2. Red Bull Content Pool

After Thursday’s single stage, the serious action gets underway with Friday’s seven special stages and 77.6 competitive miles. The three morning stages are repeated in the afternoon, before a leg-ending run through a shortened version of the Umea stage.

WRC Rally Sweden, positions after Thursday/Leg One, SS1
1 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 5m53.1s 
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +3.8s
3 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +4.4s
4 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +5.6s
5 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +6.7s
6 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +7.9s
7 Esapekka Lappi/Enni Malkonen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +9.1s
8 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +15.7s
9 Martins Sesks/Renars Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +18.2s
10 Lorenzo Bertelli/Simone Scattolin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +26.1s

• Watch the rally-closing, bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage action from Rally Sweden LIVE on RACER Network and the RACER+ App on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 6am ET.
• Plus, for a deeper dive into the FIA World Rally Championship, check out the WRC Magazine Show on RACER Network. Catch the latest episode on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 7:30pm ET, Friday, Feb. 13 at 3:30am ET and Sunday, Feb. 15 at 5:30am ET.
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