Event Bulletin
8 February 2003
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 Swedish Rally 7 to 9 February 2003 |
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Itinerary | |
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| Production Car World Rally Championship |
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Leg2 Report
Event Bulletin
8 February 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Starters70 of original 75 starters left Karlstadt parc ferme at 0530hrs this morning Route The longest of the three legs, Leg two included 140.37 competitive kilometres, contested over six stages. Tests were based around a single service area in the town of Hagfors, 90 kilometres north of Karlstadt Weather Skies remained overcast all day, with temperatures hovering between 0 and -2 degrees. Stages were mostly ice, with a thin scattering of snow on some roads Stage Reports Four-times World Champion Tommi Mäkinen put in another sparkling performance at the wheel of his Subaru Impreza WRC2003 today and set consistently fast times to increase his lead over third-placed Richard Burns to 22.1 seconds. He is 38.8 seconds behind overnight leader Gronholm. His 555 Subaru World Rally team-mate Petter Solberg finished the day in sixth place, and is looking good to score both driver and manufacturer points for the team. SS7 0818hrs Granberget 2 (43.69km) Following yesterday's consistent form, Subaru's Tommi Mäkinen went flat out from the outset today and stormed through the long fifth and sixth gear test to set the second fastest time, finishing 21.6 seconds quicker than his first run through Granberget (SS3). He maintained second position overall. Harri Rovanpera took the quickest time, finishing 2.6 seconds ahead of the Subaru star. His Peugeot team-mate, Richard Burns, finished fourth and, at the finish, just 0.5 seconds separated the Peugeot pair lying in fourth and third overall respectively. Markko Martin finished sixth fastest in his Focus, while Petter Solberg was seventh fastest, the same position that he moved up to overall. It wasn't a great stage for all the leading drivers. After his opening charge in SS1, Sebastian Loeb continued to run off the pace and was tenth, while Hyundai privateer, Jussi Valimaki, retired 30km in with transmission failure. Fastest Time: Rovanpera (Peugeot) 21:28 SS8 1124hrs Fredriksberg (18.14km) Problems for the Peugeot's on SS8 - the classic Fredriksberg test. In an event similar to yesterday's run through Brunnberg, SS8 was stopped after Peugeot privateer Juuso Pykalisto rolled his 206, which was then hit by the works entry of Harri Rovanpera, damaging his front suspension. Both crews were unhurt in the incident, but retirement was instant and, with both cars blocking the road, the stage was stopped. Of the nine competitors that completed the stage, Carlos Sainz posted the fastest time, followed by Toni Gardemeister and Colin McRae. Martin, Solberg and Loix took the next three positions, separated by just 1.2 seconds. Looking to the crews that were unable to complete the stage, stewards awarded Sainz's time to Gronholm, Mäkinen and Burns, while Schwarz's time (the slowest of the drivers that completed the test) went to the remaining crews, which included Loeb and Auriol. This decision was based upon the performance of the drivers in the rally to date. Fastest Time: Sainz (Citroen) 10:47.5 (Gronholm; Mäkinen; Burns) 
SS9 1207hrs Lejen (25.04km)Seemingly unaffected by the earlier incident on SS9, Marcus Gronholm stormed through the 2km Lejen stage to clinch his first stage win of the day and notch up his fourth of the event. In a Finn one-two, the World Champion was closely matched by three-times Swedish Rally winner Mäkinen, who expertly negotiated his way through the icy stages on his Pirelli ice-tread tyres to finish second quickest, and extend his lead on Richard Burns to 14.1 seconds. A better run for Sebastian Loeb in his Xsara. The Frenchman was back on the pace and finished third fastest, followed by the two ex-team mates of Martin and McRae who tied for fourth. A bizarre stage for privateer Janne Tuohino. Driving in his Ford Focus, the Finn had to brake heavily to avoid two moose in the road, and luckily prevented a collision. After the stage crews made their way back to the Hagfors service park. Fastest Time: Gronholm (Peugeot) 11:56.2 SS10 1437hrs Vargåsen (32.43km) This was the stage that had it all. A narrow twisty section near the start, a huge jump over the famous 'Colin's Crest' and a final fast section near the end, where drivers could go absolutely flat out over the ice. Fortunately, none of the test's sections proved problematic for leaders Gronholm and Mäkinen today. The fellow Finns charged through the 32.43km Vargåsen to set the fastest and second fastest time respectively and pull further away from the rest of the field. At the end of the test Gronholm's lead was up to 35.2 seconds and Mäkinen's, 18 seconds. Richard Burns was fourth fastest and remained third overall, despite dropping a further 3.9 seconds to Tommi. Colin McRae was fifth which was enough to move him to that position overall. Petter was eighth. Fastest Time: Gronholm (Peugeot) 18:08.7 SS11 1535hrs Torntorp (19.21km) Another fastest time for Gronholm on the penultimate stage of the day. The twisty test brought no changes to the overall top eight positions, but Loeb's string of fast stage times finally began to pay off and he finished second fastest to move up to tenth place overall. His charge relegated privateer Tuohino to eleventh. Mäkinen and McRae were joint third fastest, followed by Martin in fifth. Competing in front of hundreds of his Norwegian supporters, Subaru's Petter Solberg continued his steady run and finished eighth, to remain sixth overall. Fastest Time: Gronholm (Peugeot) 10:12.7 
SS12 1640hrs Hagfors Sprint 2 (1.86km)After SS11, crews returned to Hagfors for a second and final run around the short sports stadium circuit. Despite ice crews reporting that there were more patches of gravel on the 1.86km sprint than yesterday, they caused no upsets and the overall leaderboard remained unchanged. The top six cars all completed the stage within one second of the winner, Subaru's Tommi Mäkinen. The Finn's win rounded off an excellent day for the 555 Subaru driver, which had seen him consistently set strong times. Richard Burns was the closet challenger, with Markko Martin third. Petter Solberg was fifth. Fastest Time: Mäkinen (Subaru) 1:56.8 Team Quotes David Lapworth, 555 Subaru World Rally Team Principal I'm happy with what we've achieved in Sweden today. Both cars have run perfectly, and with Tommi so close to the lead, we're in a very strong position ahead of tomorrow's final leg. With five stages remaining, we'll carry on with the same strategy - that's to keep Marcus under pressure and see what happens. Petter has had a better day, and has found a pace where he feels more comfortable. He's got the opportunity to make up more places and is well positioned to capitalise on any mistakes up ahead. 
Petter SolbergThings have worked well, but this morning we thought about snow tyres and decided against them. Certainly, on the last stage of the day, I think they would have helped me and my driving style. The last couple of stages were frustrating, I have tried and tried but somehow the times just aren't good enough. But, there's still a lot to gain here and you can be sure that I'll push like hell tomorrow. Tommi Mäkinen So far it's been good, a nice weekend for me, and it's looking quite exciting for tomorrow as well. There's still a long way to go, and Marcus is going at an incredible speed, but of course I'll try to catch him, I will try to be flat-out! |
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Tomorrow's Leg Starts at 0600hrs, when competitors will leave Karlstadt and travel for the last time to Hagfors for the first service of the day. A further 120.75 competitive kilometres comprising five stages lie ahead, with the first test starting at 0835hrs. The event will conclude with a run through the 39.85km Hagfors stage, and the winning car is expected to cross the finish ramp in Karlstad at 1705 hours. |
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