Rally1 field expands for WRC Rally Sweden

The World Rally Championship will broaden to 12 Rally1 vehicles for the second spherical of the season in Sweden subsequent month.

The discharge of the entry checklist for the 13-16 February occasion marks the most important Rally1 discipline since Rally Catalunya in 2022, the place 12 top-flight vehicles had been additionally entered.

Privateers Lorenzo Bertelli and Jourdan Serderidis will bolster the Rally Sweden entry, with the previous driving a rented Toyota GR Yaris and the latter piloting a fourth M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1.

Bertelli made his final WRC outing behind the wheel of a GR Yaris in Sweden final yr, whereas Serderidis contested WRC rounds driving a Ford Puma in Central Europe, Greece and Kenya in 2024.

Earlier this week, it was announced that extremely rated WRC rising star Martins Sesks would start a six-round partial programme with M-Sport in Sweden following a trio of spectacular shows final season.

Sesks will be part of M-Sport full-time drivers Gregoire Munster and Josh McErlean on the rally to finish the British squad’s line-up.

The manufacturing facility Toyota squad will discipline 4 GR Yaris Rally1 entries headed by two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera, who can be joined by Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta. The trio are all registered to attain producer factors, whereas a fourth GR Yaris can be pushed by new signing Sami Pajari underneath the marque’s efficient ‘B’ crew umbrella.

Hyundai will discipline its three full-time entries for defending world champion Thierry Neuville, Ott Tanak and new recruit Adrien Fourmaux.

Sweden may even mark the primary WRC2 points-scoring spherical for Oliver Solberg aboard his new Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 run by Printsport.

In the meantime 2017 WRC2 champion Pontus Tidemand, who loved a handful of top-level outings with M-Sport in 2019, returns to the championship after nearly 5 years away in a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2.

Final yr’s Junior WRC champion Romet Jurgenson will make his first WRC2 begin after earning a graduation to the second-tier class through the FIA’s Rally Star programme.

A 12-car discipline may even line up for the primary spherical of the Junior WRC Championship in Sweden, together with WRC women’s driver programme shootout participants Lyssia Baudet and Claire Schonborn.