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RALLY: Marcus Gronholm wins 50th International Rally of Sweden

14 February 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

TheFrench team returned to the Swedish Rally for the first time since it won here in 1986 and recorded the first victory for the 206WRC. The result also marked the first FIA World Rally Championship victory for driver Marcus Gronholm. At last the Swedish Rally produced some snow! For the final day there was up to 3cm of snow on the opening pair of stages and the final stage took place with fresh snow still falling.

Peugeot

The final day could have begun disastrously for Peugeot as both its drivers hit a rock on the opening stage. Indeed no less than five of the leading crews also encountered the rock. Gronholm escaped with nothing more than a slightly damaged wheel but the impact caused Francois Delecour's diff to stop working properly. In the end everything worked perfectly and the team celebrated first wins for both the 206WRC and Marcus Gronholm. On the last stage I kept asking my co-driver if I could slow down yet but he kept telling me to 'go go go'! It's too soon to talk about championships but I'm sure I can win in Finland and maybe Portugal."

Mitsubishi

Tommi Makinen began today determined to put overnight leader Marcus Gronholm under pressure. While he closed the gap, his progress was hampered by hitting the same rock as his rival on the opening stage. "We didn't do any damage but we lost time because my foot jumped off the pedal," he explained. Team mate Freddy Loix found the overnight snow had affected grip levels but quickly adjusted to new driving techniques, despite spinning on SS18. "The last stage was tougher tan it was a year ago," he said. "I found a good rhythm and so I'm very happy, but there's still some work to do."

Ford

Colin McRae found himself locked in a battle for third place with Thomas Radstrom over the final few stages today but the Scot was more concerned with finishing his first event since Portugal last year. "After what happened on the final stage of Monte Carlo I can hardly relax. You don't forget that kind of thing in a hurry and I wasn't going to risk everything chasing third place," he admitted. "Nevertheless we took everything out of the car for SS20, including the sun-visors, and went flat out. Thomas knows these stages very well so we knew we had to be quick to get past him."

Subaru

Richard Burns managed to gain a second fastest time of the event on SS17 but the English driver couldn't understand why. "I've been driving flat out all day and so there was nothing special on the stage. I guess the tyres were just working better," he said. "As far as the championship is concerned this could seem to be a disaster but you mustn't forget that we had a worse start last year and didn't start scoring well until Argentina."

SEAT

Didier Auriol's engine again caused trouble and denied the Frenchman the chance to finish in the top eight. "It's been getting worse and worse today," he said after finishing tenth. "At times we had a red light flashing on the dashboard and on some sixth gear corners I had to change down to fifth. Despite this the handling of the car has been good. I really tried my best to beat Mr Loix!"

Hyundai

Sweden has seen a fine debut for the newest team in the Championship with both Accent WRCs reaching the finish, Kenneth Eriksson 13th and Alister McRae one place further back. "I'm really happy at this stage of the car's development," said Eriksson. "We thought we'd lose a lot more time but things have been much better than we expected. There's still some engine work to be done but overall we are in very good shape. This is a very friendly car - it really tries to help you."

Other Teams

Thomas Radstrom's hopes of winning his home event came to nothing as he was unable to match the speed of his rivals over the final day but he still battled hard for third place. He hit a rock on the opening stage and wasn't sure if he had punctured a tyre. "I didn't think I had but at 190kph you can never entirely trust that the anti-deflation mousse will work completely, as it luckily did!" he said. Markko Martin (on only his second ever snow rally) was locked in a tense battle for eighth place which went against him when he spun onto a snow bank on SS18 and lost two places. Group N was again the domain of Mitsubishi who took the top 10 places.

The next event is the Sameer Safari Rally, Round 3 of the 2000 FIA World Rally Championship (Feb 25-27)

Provisional Final Results

1 Gronholm Peugeot 206 3:20:33,3
2 Makinen Mitsu Lancer 3:20:40,1
3 C.McRae Ford Focus 3:20:47,0
4 Radstrom Toyota Corolla 3:20:48,2
5 Burns Subaru Impreza 3:21:08,3
6 Kankkunen Subaru Impreza 3:23:20,9
7 Delecour Peugeot 206 3:24:05,2
8 Loix Mitsu Carisma 3:25:41,6
9 Martin Toyota Corolla 3:25:47,3
10 Auriol Seat Cordoba 3:25:49,2

Group N
1 Paasonen Mitsu Lancer 3:36:02,1
2 Pykalisto Mitsu Lancer 3:36:33,5
3 Walfridsson Mitsu Lancer 3:37:22,1

2-Litre
1 Jansson Peugeot 106 Max 3:41:03,1
2 Kruse Renault Megane 3:44:55,0
3 Rindeby Ford Puma 3:55:16,9

Teams Cup
1 Holowczyc Subaru Impreza 3:34:46,0
2 Bakhashab Toyota Corolla 3:42:05,0


Provisional Championship Standings

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers

Makinen (FIN) 16
Gronholm (FIN) 10
Sainz (E) 6
Kankkunen (FIN) 5
McRae (GB) 4
Gardemeister (FIN) 3
Radstrom (S) 3
Thiry (B) 2
Burns (GB) 2
Loix(B) 1

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers

Mitsubishi 18
Peugeot 11
Ford 10
Subaru 9
SEAT 3
Skoda 1
Hyundai 0

FIA Cup for Drivers of Production Cars

Stohl (A) 13
Paasonen (FIN) 10
Trelles (ROU) 6
Pykalisto (FIN) 6
Galli (I) 4
Walfridsson (S) 4

FIA Teams' Cup

Wizja TV Turning Point Rally Team (PL) 10
Toyota Team Saudi Arabia (SA) 6

Stage Winners

SS16 - Radstrom, SS17 - Burns, SS18 - Radstrom,
SS19 - Radstrom, SS20 - C.McRae

Text provided by FIA

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