Photo by: Daniel Oliveira
Daniel Oliveira bounced back from a tough morning to finish on high in Rally Sweden’s second day
Daniel Oliveira and Carlos Magalhaes succeeded in completing the second leg in Rally Sweden, second round of the FIA World Rally Championship, after overcoming some difficulties during the morning which almost made them drop out of the rally.
Albeit this tricky start for the STOHL RACING crew, the pair was able to come out well and finish the day in high spirits after a good performance during the second loop of stages on board the Class 3 Subaru; an exhibition which make them feel confident about their chances of having a great ending tomorrow in the Scandinavian round.
A good restart this morning after setting the sixth best time on SS11 proved that Oliveira had more to show after yesterday’s incident which forced him to withdraw from the rally. However, bad luck struck him again as he got stuck in a snow bank after a spin on SS12 which cost him more than 20 minutes.
“We had a good start this morning even though we were struggling a bit with the pace notes which didn’t give me much confidence. We had some spins, and in one of them we got stuck in a snow bank. When we got the car back to the road we noticed a pipe of the turbo was loose” explained Daniel, who had to fight hard alongside Magalhaes so as to put the car back on the road. Although they had this inconvenient they were able to continue rallying through the snow and ice-covered roads of the Värmland region to bring the car back to the Service Park in Hagfors with a slow pace.
For the repeated stages Oliveira left the Service determined to forget his bitter fortune and decided to fight head to head with some of the local experts. “In the Service we reviewed and cleaned the pace notes until they were neat and sharp to face the second loop of stages” pointed out Oliveira.
The Brazilian built up his pace in such a way that he set four consecutive Top-5 fastest times –he was the third fastest on SS17 Fredriksberg (18,5km)- and rounded up his successful recovery with a great second place in the last speed test of the day SS18 Hagfors Sprint (1.87km).
Tomorrow’s route
Rally Sweden’s final day consist of 106.36 kilometres comprised in six special stages spread to the East of Hagfors Service Park. After the first three speed tests there is scheduled a visit to the Service and then the drivers will repeat the Lesjöfors (15km) and Rämmen (22.76km) stages, and a regrouping in Geijersholm before tackling the Hagfors Power Special Stage (15.42km). Finally, there is a 53-kilometre liaison to Karlstad, where the podium ceremony will take place.
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