Rally of Sweden 2004

The rally just started.

After the first two stages it's Gronholm from Sainz from Martin from oeb, all pretty close together. First stage to Gronholm, the second to Sainz. 3 more stages to run today.

Panizzi 16th 1:12 off the leader :disappoin Did Mitsu only enter one car for this rally? In any case, why did they even bother. Sorry if it sounds like a rant, I had really high hopes for that team this season.

Edit: they entered two WRC4 cars, Panizzi and Kristian Sohlberg, but I don't see the latter neither on the results pages or on the retirements' list :confused:

Dramas on stage 3. The win goes to Markko 9 seconds in front of Solberg, and he now leads the rally as Marcus (who was showing identical split times on the stage to Markko) had a power steering failure and lost a minute by the end of the stage. Panizzi has gearbox problems and he's now 3 minutes down on the leader.

Marcus (who was showing identical split times on the stage to Markko) had a power steering failure and lost a minute by the end of the stage.

I'm not liking the way things have started :(

Here's hoping the stage is set for another Gronholm fightback rather than a plague of technical gremlins.

OK, day one, and 5 first stages of the rally are over. Stage 4 (rerun of 3) to Martin and stage 5 to Loeb by a second.

The standings:
Martin
+23.3
Loeb
+26.9
Solberg (go Petter!)
+44.1
Sainz
Tuohino
Gronholm
Hirvonen
Duval

SS 11 and Martin loses a wheel and the lead :eek:

Gronholm has moved up to second behind Loeb. Mostly due to attrition, although he has set fastest times on most of today's special stages so far. The rest have gone to Loeb, who appears to have the legs to hold his 20 odd second lead over the Peugeot. All the big names have had bad luck at some point - except for Loeb. Will his turn for tragedy come or can he keep it together and collect his second straight win of the year?

Ford appear to have chosen wisely nominating Tuohino for points, he is currently sitting in third!

Well the 2004 Swedish rally has now been run and won. By Seb Loeb, thereby breaking the Scandinavian (or should that be Nordic) stranglehold on the event since it's inception. His first loose surface win too, how long till he conquers gravel? He'll be unstoppable then!

Second was Marcus Gronholm, despite steering problems (both driver and technical induced!), and plenty of spins and offs. The 307 is developing well, so far it has proven to be equal to the Ford and Citroen in pure speed, but still has plenty of bugs to be sorted out. A good result really, the only way to improve is to win. Poor Freddy, already the vultures are circling, he has a contract for 10 rallies I seem to recall, wonder if he will do them all in a works car?

Solberg, like Gronholm had way too many incidents, but still managed to collect some healthy points. The new Impreza is due soon, so look out then! Big brother Henning also showed well, finishing sixth in a privateer Peugeot. Is he doing any more rallies this year?

Ford were very clever nominating Tuohino for points over Duval, he did just about all that could be expected of him by finishing fourth. What can you say about Martin? The rally was his for the taking before he threw it all away. Seventh will be little consolation for him and Malcom Wilson.

Sainz, as he tends to, lost the battle with Tuohino for fourth. Trouble with overheating and a penalty for a jump start on SS19. Still, a fifth place gives Citroen plenty of points to move ahead of Ford to a slender lead in the constructors championship.

Last points were picked up by Carlsson in another privateer Peugeot. How long till he joins the works team? Same goes for Jani Passonen, who won the PWRC class, why is he not in a works Mitsubishi this year? Maybe it is his choice since the Lancer is proving itself to have not benefited form its one year lay-off.

Not a bad rally, slightly disapointed that neither Marcus not Markko won it, but Loeb did a fine job, made no big mistakes and deservedly finished first, giving a clear indication that he's planning to do one better this year than in the 2003 championship.