Teemu Suninen's rally-leading performance in Sweden marked his maturity as a WRC driver, according to his M-Sport Ford World Rally Team boss.

Suninen, 25, was the big surprise of Friday's opening day, when he claimed two stage wins in his Ford Fiesta on his way to leading a WRC event for the first time in his career.



Although he retired on Saturday after two crashes, the second of which damaged his car’s roll cage, he rejoined on Sunday to finish the rally and was congratulated by team principal Rich Millener.



"We’ve witnessed a real coming-of-age performance from Teemu – leading a WRC rally for the very first time and proving that he has the speed to challenge for the top results," Millener said.

"Yes, he made some mistakes, but that’s part of the game when you’re learning how to push at this level and I was impressed to see how quickly he got back up to speed."



Suninen, who had tackled Rally Sweden only three times before, said leading for the first time had been ‘an amazing feeling’.



“Of course we shouldn’t have made these mistakes, but there were a lot of mistakes from a lot of drivers in these difficult conditions – and it is better to have the pace and improve the consistency,” he said.



“I have to work hard for the next event, but I still think there have been a lot of positives this weekend. We had really good pace and that gives me a lot of confidence.”

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