Toyota boss Latvala is tipping Evans to shine in Umea

The Toyota Gazoo Racing duo start round two in Umea separated by eight points, with Rovanpera stealing an early march courtesy of coming home second at Rallye Monte-Carlo last month and bagging a full quota of points on the end-of-rally Power Stage by half-a-second from M-Sport’s Ott Tanak.

With Monte winner Sebastien Ogier not in attendance and handing over the third points-scoring car to Takamoto Katsuta, it means Rovanpera will run first on the road across Friday’s six timed runs aboard his GR Yaris Rally1.

If there are meanginful snow showers in the build-up to Friday it is likely to hinder the young Finn as he opens up a clean line for those coming behind. As such, starting from fourth will be considered an advantage for Evans and co-driver Scott Martin.

That view was echoed by Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala – himself a winner of the event when he was flying the banner for M-Sport Ford back in 2008. It was a defining moment in his career and a special weekend for the Blue Oval’s Focus World Rally Car as it locked out all the podium places.

“Kalle was able to win from first on the road but his chances will again depend on the conditions and whether or not there is a nice layer of ice,” said Latvala.

“If there is a lot of snow to sweep it can be more difficult for him, and it could be that Elfyn – who also really enjoys these conditions – could be in the better position to fight.”

As well as points, inter-term bragging rights are also up for grabs on the only winter event on the World Rally Championship calendar as Evans and Rovanpera have each won in Sweden once before.

While Rovanpera’s priority is to minimise time loss on the Friday so that he remains in the thick of the fight come Saturday and Sunday is not going to be an easy ask, Evans’ headspace is occupied with what is the best route to go down with his car’s ride and handling.

“Even with the snow and ice, it is still one of the fastest rallies on the calendar and especially since the base moved a bit further north last year; I think the stages are even faster and we will have some new ones on this year’s route that we are yet to discover,” said the Welshman.

“It’s a rally where it’s almost impossible to have a perfect car all the time, because the grip you have can change a lot within one loop of stages, but we were able to work through various options in our [pre-event] test, so that should help.”