Rally of Sweden thread!

Only two weeks after the Monte we are already into the second event of the season. Here are the top times from the shakedown, Carlos was streets ahead of the pack in his Xsara. All you Markko fans will be pleased to hear he managed to keep his car intact for the start of the rally this year!

Carlos SAINZ - Citroen Xsara WRC - 1'45"7
Petter SOLBERG - Subaru Impreza WRC - 1'46"4
Richard BURNS - Peugeot 206 WRC - 1'46"7
Tommi MAKINEN - Subaru Impreza WRC - 1'47"2
Marcus GRONHOLM - Peugeot 206 WRC - 1'47"3
Colin MCRAE - Citroen Xsara WRC - 1'47"6
Harri ROVANPERA - Peugeot 206 WRC - 1'47"9
Sébastien LOEB - Citroen Xsara WRC - 1'48"1
Toni GARDEMEISTER -Skoda Octavia WRC - 1'48"5
Markko MARTIN - Ford Focus WRC - 1'48"9
Freddy LOIX - Hyundai Accent WRC - 1'49"1
Jussi VALIMAKI - Hyundai Accent WRC - 1'49"1
Juuso PYKALISTO - Peugeot 206 WRC - 1'49"6
Kristian SOHLBERG - Mitsubishi Lancer WRC - 1'49"7
Armin SCHWARZ - Hyundai Accent WRC - 1'49"7

I am pleased indeed! :)

Last year I was very disapointed as I felt he had a chance there - afterall, it was during the Swedish rally that he first appeared, and impressively so, in the old and privately run Corolla. So I'm keeping the fingers crossed for this one!

Alex

Looks like at least one of the Pugs was trying hard on the shakedown.
Left a nice souviner for this lucky spectator to take home!

http://a324.g.akamai.net/f/324/3595/1d/www.rally-live.com/photos/2003/suede/diapoa_023.jpg

Duval is out already......sad.....

Sad indeed but at least he went out in style and ruined the complete stage :D

I wish I had more fingers to cross for Markko! :)

Was too tired to stay up and follow the stage times on the 'net last night. I'm in Australia so all the European rally action happens in the middle of the night.

Anyway, checked the results out this morning.

Gronholm and the other Peugeots are doing as expected. Fords (especially Duval :() are doing as expected. Citroens are following the same pattern as last year, we had hoped they'd improved this year but apparently not the case. Running one, two three on the road may have something to do with it. Looks like they will be performing the same task tomorrow too.

Most pleasant surprise is Tommi's pace, managing to keep two of the Peugeots at bay. Also Gardemeister, working wonders with the big Skoda.

My main hope for tomorrow is for Rovanpera to get in front of Burns. Would hate for something to go wrong with Marcus and Tommi, leaving Richard to inherit the win!

Leg two is underway. SS8 has been stopped due to an accident on stage. Apparently Juuso Pykalisto, who was in 5th position overnight rolled and Harri Rovanpera crashed into him :eek: There was nobody there to warn Harri the road was blocked! Fortunately, by all reports nobody is injured. Two Peugeots out in one go :(

Burns, Tommi, Marcus and Loeb were slowed by the accident. Have to wait and see if the stage is cancelled or a notinal time is applied, probably the former like on SS5.

I am in a training course so it is difficult yo keep of anything right now....keep me posted guys;)

Bad news about Harri that:(

I was very pleased with Loeb winning leg 1, but then Citroëns start suffering from running as first cars on those stages where it snowed. But after day 2, they are coming back!! McRae in 5th, Sainz in 8th and Loeb in 10th. They should all be able to get into the points. So I think they doing not too bad. Loix is also running in 9th which is good I think, knowing that they did barely any testing at Huyndai during the off season and he's a couple of place ahead of team-mate Schwarz.

Makinen is doing a great job and put's a lot of pressure on Gronholm. 30sec's = running twice into snow bank. Tommi can still win it!

There is a weird thing about Gronholm though. I think he's too over-confident. Like in Monte Carlo, but this time it was his co-pilot, they weave at the crowd while racing :confused: That's not what you axpect from guys who are focused 100%, is it? He can only stop himself from winning this, by crashing, like in GB last year and Monte this year, due to lack of concentration...

Good luck on the course Ray ;)

You mean Loeb won SS1 not leg one Guido :p

Yes Gronholm does appear confident but I think he and Timo are waving at the crowds because they are not going 100%, but just keeping pace with Makkinen. No need to push, just match Tommi's splits. That is probably the reason the Citroens, particularly Loeb appear to be doing so well. If Marcus was really serious....

At the end of leg two 1st, 2nd and 3rd look pretty solid. Only a mistake from Marcus, Tommi or Richard likely to see a change there. However from 4th down to 10th, anything is likely to happen.

You mean Loeb won SS1 not leg one Guido

of course I did mean that :bloated:

Yes Gronholm does appear confident but I think he and Timo are waving at the crowds because they are not going 100%, but just keeping pace with Makkinen. No need to push, just match Tommi's splits. That is probably the reason the Citroens, particularly Loeb appear to be doing so well. If Marcus was really serious....

... seriously pushing harder he would go off like in Monte :flipa:
j/K of course he's the best of the field and like I said, he can only stop himself

At the end of leg two 1st, 2nd and 3rd look pretty solid. Only a mistake from Marcus, Tommi or Richard likely to see a change there. However from 4th down to 10th, anything is likely to happen.

Yes, that's an interesting battle for the points! Curious to see if Citroën can hold the lead in the standings after 2 rallies.

We're off for a very exciting year!

So, after day 2, here are the standings. So everyone knows what we are talking about.

1. M GRÖNHOLM 2:03:29.1 - Peugeot 206
2. T MÄKINEN +38.8 - Subaru Impreza
3. R BURNS +1:00.9 - Peugeot 206
4. M MÄRTIN +1:46.0 - Ford Focus
5. C MCRAE +2:02.5 - Citroën Xsara
6. P SOLBERG +2:12.1 - Subaru Impreza
7. T GARDEMEISTER +2:25.8 - Skoda Octavia
8. C SAINZ +2:30.1 - Citroën Xsara
9. F LOIX + 2:40.8 - Huyndai Accent
10. S LOEB + 2:51.4 - Citroën Xsara


;)

I was just looking into the stage times. In the last 3 stages, Loeb was in the top 3 all the time, together with Marcus and Tommi. So I think the Xsara did improve since last year.
Loeb is not higher onto the leaderboard probably because of his lack of experience, hitting snowbanks etc., but like the last 3 stages ( the sprint stage 12 not included ) are showing, he's improving for sure. A man to watch in the future. :devil:

Rally Sweden is over and here is the final result.

1. M GRÖNHOLM 3:03:28.1
2. T MÄKINEN +50.8
3. R BURNS +1:17.9
4. M MÄRTIN +1:45.8
5. C MCRAE +2:15.8
6. P SOLBERG +2:19.1
7. S LOEB +3:14.7
8. T GARDEMEISTER +3:19.2
9. C SAINZ +3:24.2
10. F LOIX +3:36.4

Congratulations to Marcus Gronholm after a much deserved and commanding win!

Yes congratulatinos to Gronholm, Good to get the monkey off his back after crashing out of the lead on the last two rallys (GB and Monte). Lets have no more of that this year, please!

Fantastic finish for Loeb to fight back from the first day as road sweeper. He managed to grab a couple of points to keep himself in the championship lead on 12 points with McRae.

Citroen also keeps the lead in the constructors championship, just two points ahead of Peugeot.

does anybody else like how the 206's look in red? after a while....I still can't adjust to them. Silver was great......red, should stay w/ citreon

Originally posted by Xerxes
does anybody else like how the 206's look in red? after a while....I still can't adjust to them. Silver was great......red, should stay w/ citreon

/raises hand/ I love the way the 206 looks in red. The 99 white was better, but red looks great as well :cool:

The red looks good to me too:)
I heard that the Peugeot team motor home is actually from a certain F1 team that shares their title sponsor too....they just took of the horse logo and replaced it with the Lion.

Ray

well, "the other team" did get a fleet of brand new Ivecos :D:D:D (truck of the year, btw ;))