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RALLY: Marcus Gronholm continues to lead in Sweden

13 February 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

With today's stages to the north east of Karlstad close to Borlange came drama with two of the leading crews, Sainz and Gardemeister, forced out of the contest by mechanical problems. Marcus Gronholm continues to lead, however, although the battle for second could hardly have been closer at times today with just half a second covering positions 2-4. Although there was more snow on today's stages, morning rain made conditions treacherous and in the afternoon crews suffered with stud retention problems for the first time.

Peugeot

Marcus Gronholm was wide awake at 4am and so was ready for action immediately! The overnight leader extended his lead with two fastest times on the first stages and was able to rest a little easier as his rivals hit trouble. "I can go even quicker tomorrow because I know those stages much better," he explained. Francois Delecour continues to drive steadily because of his lack of detailed stage knowledge but still managed to overshoot a junction and suffered a diff problem near the start of SS13. Team director Corrado Provera dismissed any suggestion of team orders by saying: "We've got both cars in the points at the moment so anything else is a gift. Marcus has gained 50% of the fastest times so far and so I can't ask a driver to slow down."

Mitsubishi

Tommi Makinen was not especially happy with his performance this morning but could not attribute it to any specific reason. He did finally, however, get rid of the annoying transmission noise that affected him yesterday when the mechanics swapped the gearbox last night. The World Champion lost the chance to retake second place from McRae on the Jutbo stage when he went off twice and broke three wheel rims. Low hydraulic pressure has given Freddy Loix a rear or centre diff worry but it was not expected to develop into anything major during the day and the team was confident it could be fully rectified at the final service in Grangesberg.

Ford

Colin McRae was on a charge this morning and stormed into second place over the first two stages before consolidating his position with a record-breaking drive over SS13 Jutbo, 65s faster than the previous best time despite ending the stage with two punctures. "I was quite surprised because it didn't feel that quick," admitted McRae. However fortune was not with Ford as Carlos Sainz retired before SS11 when part of the car's oil pump system sheared on the road section and caused both the oil pump and alternator to stop working. McRae was delighted that the weather conditions had been the way they were. "If it had frozen overnight then I'd have been worried about keeping the studs in the tyres on the gravel sections but instead it has been quite muddy and we've not lost a single stud. We have been able to make a full attack all the way." Both cars were fitted with new engines after possible internal damage was spotted after the pre-rally shakedown.

Subaru

Both Richard Burns and Juha Kankkunen were strangely subdued during the morning, unable to find a perfect tyre solution to the melting ice that greeted them on the stages. Kankkunen's car also suffered from a combination of front shock absorber damage and a misjudged tyre choice on the opening stage and both drivers began to slip out of contention as the day progressed. "Everyone's driving at much the same pace so it's difficult to break the pattern," said Burns. "The fastest way is to stay off the snow banks."

SEAT

The Spanish team suffered a bitter blow when Toni Gardemeister stopped 8kms into SS11 with failed oil pressure. "We stopped in the stage to see what the problem was and found oil leaking from the oil pump. We tried to block it and drove another 4kms but it was still leaking and so we stopped to save further damage," he said. Didier Auriol was much happier with his car's set up today although his tyre choice for SS11 and SS12 proved not to be perfect for the car. Harri Rovanpera has been suffering in the same way that Thomas Radstrom was yesterday, finding no grip at all in the braking areas because of the damage caused by earlier cars which began to tear studs from his tyres.

Hyundai

Power steering failure was the reason why Kenneth Eriksson's service crew swapped the gearbox this morning and the Hyundai driver gained some time penalties for leaving the Grangesberg service parc late. Rectifying the problem is a complex process involving changing the centre diff and gearbox. Unfortunately the replacement gearbox then lost fifth gear and ensured a fraught day for the Swede. Nevertheless he was upbeat about the new Accent WRC. "Normally to come to an event and lose time would be annoying but I can see the car has lots of potential. It will just take a few more events to get everything sorted out.

Other Teams

Thomas Radstrom's challenge continued throughout the day but a surprising lack of grip at times saw him fall back from the heels of rally leader Gronholm. Markko Martin began to climb the leaderboard after fixing yesterday's turbo pipe problem.

Sunday 13 February

The third and final leg starts from Karlstad at 07h20 (GMT +1) and covers 425.47km, including 96.18km on 5 special stages. The first car is expected on the finish podium in Karlstad main square at 16h01.

Weather forecast

Cloudy. Temperature between 0 and +5 degrees.

Text provided by FIA

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