Hankook Tire Equips Competitors for Snow & Ice at WRC Rally Sweden 2026
Rally Sweden runs Feb. 12-15, with all competitive stages taking place on 185 miles of snow- & ice-covered roads...
Hankook Tire & Technology Co. Ltd., a global tire company of the Hankook & Company Group and the exclusive tire supplier to the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), enters Rally Sweden, Round 2 of the 2026 WRC, Feb. 12-15. Returning to the snowbound forests of Umeå, Sweden, this is WRC’s first true winter crucible of the season, company officials stated in a press release.
A fixture on the WRC calendar since 1950, Rally Sweden remains the championship’s only round run entirely on snow and ice. Crews will contest 18 special stages spanning roughly 185 miles of frozen roads, where Rally1 cars routinely approach 125 mph with engines revving close to 8,500 rpm. In these conditions, success hinges on razor-sharp car control, exceptional tire grip and handling, and consistently reliable braking performance across every corner, noted the release.
For Rally Sweden, Hankook will equip competitors with the Winter i*Pike SR10W, a purpose-built competition tire featuring specially designed ice-rally stud pins.
Oliver Solberg Hopes To Build on Win at Rallye Monte-Carlo
In the championship standings, Oliver Solberg of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team arrives in Sweden as the championship leader after a historic victory at the 2026 season-opening Rallye Monte-Carlo, where he became the youngest winner of the event in the 21st century. Competing on his home soil, the young Swede carries both momentum and expectation into Rally Sweden, with fans watching closely to see whether he can strengthen his title bid and reshape the early-season championship battle, the company said.
Since the 2025 season, Hankook has been the exclusive tire supplier across all WRC classes. Leveraging performance data and technical insights gathered from supplying racing tires and supporting teams in more than 70 motorsport series worldwide, Hankook says it systematically feeds real-world competition learnings back into the development of its ultra-high-performance products.
