---

RALLY: FIA World Rally Championship moves into Sweden

11 February 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

From Monte Carlo the FIA World Rally Championship has moved to Sweden where what would normally be the only true snow rally of the Championship is celebrating 50 years since the first event. However, once again the weather has denied the event the snow it wanted and so, at best, this will be an ice rally. The 1990 rally had to be cancelled because the weather was too warm but this means the organisers have an excuse for another 50th birthday party next year! It is also the only event yet to be conquered by a driver outside of Scandinavia and so the challenge is on for the visitors. FIA World Champion Tommi Makinen is chasing a hat-trick of wins to add to his first success in 1996 while the man who broke Makinen's winning streak, Kenneth Eriksson, debuts Hyundai's new Accent WRC and brings the total number of registered teams (listed below) in the Championship to seven.

Mitsubishi (12points)

Last year Tommi Makinen's Swedish Rally win, coming close after victory in Monte Carlo, set him up to lead the FIA World Rally Championship from start to finish. Makinen again comes to Sweden following a Monte Carlo win and must be considered favourite for a repeat performance, at least in terms of a third successive Swedish Rally win. "We did some good testing and our car is always competitive in these conditions," he said. "It's also nice for a Finn to have a chance of beating the Swedes!" By contrast his Belgian team mate Freddy Loix will have a tough three days, despite having undertaken extra pre-rally testing in Lapland. "This is the toughest event of the year for me," he said. "However it's always fun to drive on snow and I'll be happy if we can score points again."

Ford (6 points)

If anyone is going to break the Scandinavian stranglehold on this event then it ought to be Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard has finished second in Sweden on each of the past four years and he feels it's time he moved up a place. "We've been close to winning four times," he said. "Last year I was only 20 seconds behind the winner. It will happen one day and I hope it will be this year." For Sainz's Ford team mate, Colin McRae, simply getting to the finish will be an achievement as the Scot has so far failed to complete the last nine FIA World Championship rallies. He is hoping for lots of snow in the forests this week. "If there's not much snow it's not ideal because it rips the studs from the tyres and they are the only real point of contact with the ground on this event. If there's plenty of snow you can drive flat out because the snow banks bounce the car back onto the road if you get too far out of line."

Subaru (4 points)

Subaru drivers Juha Kankkunen and Richard Burns both believe that confidence and experience is the key to success in Sweden. "To be able to drive fast on snow, nothing helps as much as experience," says the Finn. He's not short of it either and confesses, "I grew up driving on snow and ice. In fact, I was practically born on it!" Burns was cruelly denied even a finish in Monte Carlo when his car refused to start on the second morning while the Englishman was challenging for the lead. He believes he can regain the lost ground this week. "I'd like more snow to make the stages consistent but it's certainly possible to win here," he said. "Studded tyres make a real difference to your driving style. You have to be on the power a lot more than usual to keep the studs digging into the ice."

SEAT (3 points)

SEAT's 1999 Swedish Rally was spoiled by fuel injection problems and the team comes to this year's event with relatively little experience compared to some of its rivals. Didier Auriol's best result was fourth last year, when he was driving for Toyota, and Toni Gardemeister's three previous attempts have been in two-wheel drive cars. Auriol said before the event: "Sweden is a hard and fast rally but I usually seem to go well here. It is a unique event with soft snow, ice and broken gravel all making tyre choice extremely difficult." His young Finnish team mate is more excited about the rally. "It's one of my favourite events," he said. "The stages are great and I enjoy driving flat out on full snow and sheet ice!" For this event SEAT has entered a third Cordoba WRC for Harri Rovanpera although it is only Auriol and Gardemeister who are registered for Manufacturers' Championship points. Rovanpera is the only one of the trio who has driven the Cordoba in Sweden before. "It's like coming home," he said. "I won't get to test the car until the eve of the rally but I hope that I can do well anyway."

Hyundai (first participation)

The newest team to join the main FIA World Rally Championship begins its campaign here in Sweden. Hyundai has retained its drivers from last year's FIA 2-litre Cup challenge and will rely heavily on Kenneth Eriksson's vast knowledge of his home event to set the target for team mate Alister McRae to target. "I'm incredibly excited about getting back in to a World Rally Car," said three-time Swedish winner Eriksson whose last experience of four-wheel drive was with Subaru, here in 1998. "As with any new car the other teams will have an advantage but we know there is more to come from the Accent WRC during the year." McRae admits, "Hopefully I can learn from Kenneth, have a trouble-free event and set some good times." Eriksson's equally experienced co-driver Staffan Parmander sounded a warning note about the effect of the warm weather. "The stages around Hagfors will be critical. If the surface is mixed ice and gravel then things could be very tricky. If the weather stays warm then the event will be decided on tyre choice."

Peugeot (0 points)

After the embarrassment of having all three cars fail to start the second day of the Monte Carlo Rally, Peugeot is hoping for better fortune in Sweden. The last time the team competed here was in 1986 and it marked victory for Juha Kankkunen. "We missed a big opportunity to score points on the first round," admitted team director Corrado Provera. "We go to Karlstad feeling confident but humble." The team will expect great things from its Finnish driver Marcus Gronholm on an event he knows well. "I adore this rally," he said. "The speeds are high but we Nordic drivers are accustomed to racing on snow and ice. One day a so-called Latin driver will win this rally but I hope it's not this year!" Team mate Francois Delecour has tackled the rally only twice before, the last time in 1996. "I enjoy this rally the most, along with New Zealand," he said. "When the conditions are perfect driving in Sweden can be an unbelievably fantastic experience."

Skoda (not competing, 1 point)

Skoda is not competing on this rally. Instead the Czech team will embark on an eight-day test in Kenya to prepare for the Sameer Safari Rally, round three of the FIA World Rally Championship, at the end of the month.

Other Teams

Outside the factory teams, Thomas Radstrom has returned from two years at Ford to the Toyota Sweden camp and could be considered a possible winner of the event. "After just two corners I felt at home again," he said after a recent test session. He subsequently went on to win the opening round of the FIA European Championship, the Arctic Rally, with ease. By contrast his team mate, Daniel Carlsson, is making his debut in a WRC car. The Swedish Rally sees the first entries of 2000 for the FIA Teams Cup. Two teams will be at the start, one for former FIA European Champion Krzysztof Holwczyc (PL) in a Subaru Impreza WRC and the other for Abdullah Bakhashab (SA) in a Toyota Corolla WRC. Traditionally the Group N competition in Sweden is as intense as that for overall honours. Mitsubishi has won the category every year since 1991 and Kenneth Backlund took five successive wins between '93-'97. There is every reason to suspect a classic contest again between Backlund and Stig-Olov Walfridsson. Joukko Puhakka (last year's winner) was a late withdrawal as his sponsor, the Tire Research Institute, couldn't supply sufficient tyres in time!

Text Provided by WRC

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.