ELFYN Evans is looking to build on the solid start made in Monte-Carlo as the FIA World Rally Championship heads to Sweden.

Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team arrives to the high-speed snow spectacular of Rally Sweden (February 12-15) with home hero Oliver Solberg leading the championship standings.

Solberg stunningly led a TGR-WRT 1-2-3 on last month’s season-opening Rallye Monte-Carlo to begin his debut campaign with the team in perfect style.

After experiencing some of the most demanding winter conditions seen in many years on the ‘Monte’, crews now take on the WRC’s only pure snow-and-ice event. Here, special studded tyres bite into the surface and allow for some of the highest speeds of the season, while drivers can ‘lean’ their cars on snowbanks by the sides of the road to carry more pace through corners.

Solberg, who was born in Sweden and races under the flag of mother Pernilla, heads for home with an early lead of four points over team-mate Elfyn Evans: a two-time former winner of the event.

The Dolgellau driver’s second Sweden win 12 months ago came in a thrilling final-day duel with Japanese team-mate Takamoto Katsuta, who completes the TGR-WRT manufacturers’ championship line-up for this event. Finland’s Sami Pajari competes close to home under the TGR-WRT2 banner.

Evans said: “Rally Sweden is a unique event in the WRC calendar and one that’s usually a lot of fun to drive.

“Rallye Monte-Carlo was a solid start to the season for us and, as always, we’ll be aiming once again to challenge for victory in Sweden.

“A lot depends on exactly what the conditions are like. If we get freezing temperatures and good solid icy conditions, then it should be possible to challenge from our position early on the road, like we could in 2025.

“On the other hand, if there’s a lot of fresh snow to clean, it can be more difficult. We had some good preparation in very cold conditions at the Arctic Rally last week and if we could see something similar in Sweden, it will be a great event.”

Rally Sweden has since 2022 been based in Umeå, the largest city in northern Sweden and a short trip across the Gulf of Bothnia from Finland where TGR-WRT is based. The new location – closer to the Arctic Circle than to the capital city Stockholm – has helped ensure extreme winter conditions and brought even faster roads.

The rally starts on the edge of the city on Thursday evening with a full-length 10.23-kilometre version of the Umeå stage. The shorter Umeå Sprint form runs at the end of Friday after two loops in the forests to the north-east, which are separated by mid-day service.

Saturday’s format is similar, with a loop of three stages to the west run twice either side of service, and another run of Umeå Sprint at the end of the day. Sunday features two passes of Västervik to the north-east, before a second run of the full-length Umeå serves as the rally-ending Power Stage.

Team principal Jari-Matti Latvala said: “Rally Sweden is our only pure winter rally during the season and it can offer phenomenal conditions that the drivers truly love. When you have big snowbanks and icy roads that can give great grip through the studded tyres, it’s one of the most beautiful scenes for a rally driver.”