Estonian youngster Jasper Vaher had controlled the rally from the very beginning on Friday. The Toyota prospect even extended his lead to 9.7 seconds over Teemu Suninen after Stage 11. However, on the following stage, the roads of Värmland claimed their first victim in the battle for victory. Vaher went off the road, hit a tree and lost nearly nine minutes.

Suninen and co-driver Antti Haapala inherited the lead, but fellow Finn Mikko Heikkilä kept up the pressure, reducing the gap to just 2.8 seconds with two stages remaining.

Then, just before the finish of SS15 Lövhöjden 2, the rally was turned upside down once again. Suninen slid wide in a left-hand corner and his rally came to an abrupt end. From there, Mikko Heikkilä and Kristian Temonen were able to drive home to victory in the fourth edition of the BAUHAUS Royal Rally of Scandinavia.

“It feels really good. It’s been a long weekend where we’ve been fighting for tenths of a second all the time, and the competition has been incredibly tough from start to finish. This was our goal coming here, so I’m really happy right now,” said Mikko Heikkilä.

“There are so many people to thank, but first and foremost my sponsors, who gave me the opportunity to come here and compete. The team has done a fantastic job as well – everything worked perfectly throughout the weekend. And I have to mention my engineer. He kept telling me to be happier, and I told him I would be happy when I won. Now I finally can be.”

The fight for the podium positions was intense throughout the rally, and one of the key protagonists was local favourite Isak Reiersen and co-driver Stefan Gustafsson. They started Sunday in fifth place, 5.9 seconds behind the podium. During the morning loop they climbed past Mārtiņš Sesks into fourth position, despite a high-speed moment on Ängebäckstorp.

When Vaher dropped out, Sesks regained ground on Reiersen, and after SS14 the Swede was fourth, less than three seconds behind the Latvian. But when Suninen also retired, Reiersen and Gustafsson moved up to third place, securing their second consecutive ERC podium finish on home soil.

“What a weekend it has been. The pace has been incredibly high on every stage, and as soon as you lose the feeling a little bit, the seconds just disappear. The car has worked perfectly all weekend, Stefan has done an excellent job and the team has been fantastic. I’m really happy. No punctures, no drama – just some big slides. That’s exactly how we like it,” said Isak Reiersen.

Mārtiņš Sesks claimed second behind Mikko Heikkilä.

Calle Carlberg and Jørgen Eriksen are the reigning Junior ERC champions and this year are combining selected ERC1 appearances with their prize programme in Junior WRC. After a difficult Rally Portugal, where they crashed while leading, they arrived in Karlstad aiming to rebuild confidence and regain their rhythm behind the wheel. Together with GK Door Team Sweden, they delivered a strong performance that earned them fourth place overall.

The moral fifth-place finishers of the BAUHAUS Royal Rally of Scandinavia were Patrik Hallberg and John Stigh. The pair crossed the Power Stage finish line in fifth place overall and with the fifth-fastest stage time, despite suffering a double puncture. Hallberg attempted to continue towards the finish in Karlstad on a damaged wheel, but was ultimately unable to do so. As a result, fifth place was inherited by Romania’s Simone Tempestini.

Junior ERC and ERC4 had been largely dominated by Finland’s Aatu Hakalehto up until Stage 13. However, after a road junction on Lövhöjden, he slid into a ditch and his rally was over. Victory in both Junior ERC and ERC4 instead went to Germany’s Timo Schulz and Maresa Lade in an Opel Corsa Rally4.

Swedish 16-year-old Arvid Carlsson was fastest on Stage 13, securing his first-ever ERC stage victory. Carlsson and co-driver David Arhusiander ultimately finished fourth, less than ten seconds shy of a podium finish.

Ville Vaatanen and Joonas Ojala claimed victory in ERC3 and the Fiesta Rally3 Trophy.