Rally1 field expands for WRC Rally Sweden

The World Rally Championship will expand to 12 Rally1 cars for the second round of the season in Sweden next month.

The release of the entry list for the 13-16 February event marks the largest Rally1 field since Rally Catalunya in 2022, where 12 top-flight cars were also entered.

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

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

Earlier this week, it was announced that highly rated WRC rising star Martins Sesks would begin a six-round partial programme with M-Sport in Sweden following a trio of impressive displays last season.

Sesks will join M-Sport full-time drivers Gregoire Munster and Josh McErlean at the rally to complete the British squad’s line-up.

The factory Toyota squad will field four GR Yaris Rally1 entries headed by two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera, who will be joined by Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta. The trio are all registered to score manufacturer points, while a fourth GR Yaris will be driven by new signing Sami Pajari under the marque’s effective ‘B’ team umbrella.

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

Sweden will also mark the first WRC2 points-scoring round for Oliver Solberg aboard his new Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 run by Printsport.

Meanwhile 2017 WRC2 champion Pontus Tidemand, who enjoyed a handful of top-level outings with M-Sport in 2019, returns to the championship after almost five years away in a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2.

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

A 12-car field will also line up for the first round of the Junior WRC Championship in Sweden, including WRC women’s driver programme shootout participants Lyssia Baudet and Claire Schonborn.