Tanak stretches ahead of Mikkelsen, Lappi

Top 15 classification after SS16 at Rally Sweden

Ott Tanak has put himself in prime position to take victory at Rally Sweden as he leads by almost a full minute with nearest chasers Andreas Mikkelsen and Esapekka Lappi tied for second place.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver dominated the Saturday afternoon stages, winning three out of five, to push his overall lead to 54.5s on Hyundai’s Mikkelsen and teammate Lappi.

Lappi moved to an identical time on the overall classification as Mikkelsen at the end of SS16 to set up a hotly-contested runner-up spot, while Thierry Neuville remains a threat in the other Hyundai just 2.3s off the two ahead of him.

M-Sport Ford’s Elfyn Evans has slipped to fifth place as he lost touch with the podium-hunting drivers, 11.9s off Neuville, but has a comfortable gap to Toyota’s Kris Meeke in sixth place.

Nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb is within two seconds off Meeke for Hyundai while Pontus Tidemand has moved up to eighth place for M-Sport Ford after teammate Teemu Suninen spun off, hitting a tree in the process, before getting stuck in a snowbank on SS14.

WRC 2 leader Ole Christian Veiby has also been promoted to ninth place for Volkswagen with Jari Huttunen rounding out the points place for Skoda.