Rally Sweden 11th - 14th February 2010
MIKKO MAKES HIS MARK
Leg 1 - The rally returned to the WRC calendar as the opening round of the 2010 season, after a year off due to the FIA's event rotation system, and the event was rebranded as Rally Sweden from this year onwards. 2010 also marked the 60th anniversary of the first Swedish Rally. Opening proceedings was the Karlstad Superspecial on Thursday evening and going fastest went works Citroën pilot Dani Sordo by 2.0 seconds from fellow Citroën driver Sébastien Ogier. Ford number one Mikko Hirvonen slotted into third, 2.1 seconds down, and 0.2 seconds further back came 2009 world champion Sébastien Loeb in fourth. 2003 world champion Petter Solberg's event started on the back foot, losing 18.3 seconds with a spin in his private Citroën C4 WRC to sit down in 44th. SS2, Likenäs 1, got Friday's action underway and it was Loeb who made the first move, taking 3.3 seconds from his teammate Sordo to move into a 1.0-second lead. Petter Solberg's recovery drive started with the sixth-fastest time, gaining him thirty four places to sit in ninth. Making his World Rally Car debut in Sweden was 2007 Formula One world champion Kimi Räikkonen, the Finn was a frustrated man after struggling to see in the hanging snow from the Focus WRC of Khalid Al-Qassimi, who had taken a trip into a snowbank, and the Citroën man was forced to follow it through a large chunk of the stage. Loeb added a small amount to his lead in SS3, Viggen 1, but then a fastest time from Hirvonen in SS4, Torntorp 1, moved the Ford ahead of Sordo to sit 4.1 seconds behind the leading Citroën at service, with Sordo another 1.9 seconds back. The lunch halt added some fire to Hirvonen's belly and he flew through SS5, Likenäs 2, some 10.8 seconds faster than Loeb to hit the front, the Frenchman also slipped 0.4 seconds behind teammate Sordo and sat 6.7 seconds off the lead. Second works Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala lost ground with an overshoot and fell 28.0 seconds away from the leading trio, the stage also caused problems in the lower half of the top ten as Petter Solberg, Mads Østberg and Matthew Wilson all suffered incidents. Solberg and Østberg each lost a couple of minutes with a visit into the same snowbank, whilst the drama for Wilson came soon after he passed the Solberg off. The Cumbrian overshot the same junction that had caught out Latvala, with the closely following Solberg doing the same and clouting the Stobart Focus as he passes. Over the three remaining stages of the loop, Loeb took back second place and ate 1.6 seconds out of Hirvonen's lead in SS6, Viggen 2, before the leading Finn adds 3.3 seconds to his advantage in SS7, Torntorp 2, to sit 8.4 seconds up heading to the day-closing Karlstad Superspecial. There, Loeb nicked 2.2 seconds from Hirvonen so trailed by 6.2 seconds overnight. The second Citroën of Sordo was also well in touch another 4.4 seconds back, 10.6 seconds from the lead. The afternoon loop gave problems for two more runners, former rally winner Marcus Grönholm lost twelve minutes with an electrical issue on his private Focus WRC to effectively end his bid for a top result in his one-off return whilst Räikkonen lost a mammoth twenty-six minutes beached in a snowbank.
Top 6 after Leg 1
1. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen - Ford Focus WRC 1:08:04.8
2. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena - Citroën C4 WRC +6.2
3. Dani Sordo/Marc Martí - Citroën C4 WRC +10.6
4. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila - Ford Focus WRC _31.7
5. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia - Citroën C4 WRC +1:10.9
6. Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor - Ford Focus WRC +2:16.2
Leg 2 - Hirvonen started the day with a bang by adding 4.6 seconds to his lead margin in SS9, Vargåsen 1, but then the chasing Loeb hit back on the following three stages - taking 3.9 seconds in SS10, Sågen 1, then 0.2 seconds in SS11, Fredriksberg 1, and another 2.5 seconds in SS12, Hagfors Sprint 1, so the gap now sat at 4.2 seconds heading into lunchtime service. Sordo would fall away from the leading pair with a spin into a snowbank on SS11 but was fortunate to quickly be able to rejoin the stage, losing 16.1 seconds to his pace-setting stablemate Loeb and head fourth-placed Latvala by 11.2 seconds at service. Latvala entered the afternoon loop on a mission, a big attack in SS13, Vargåsen 2, saw him grabbing 11.0 seconds out of the margin to Sordo, with the gap now down to 10.2 seconds. The Finn's Ford teammate Hirvonen also stemmed the tide from Loeb by adding 2.7 seconds to his lead in SS13, then stretched it by a handy 7.9 seconds in SS14, Sågen 2, and an even healthier 8.2 seconds in SS15, Fredriksberg 2, as the Frenchman bemoaned a tyre strategy gamble which failed to pay off. The Citroën star did end the day brightly, however, to steal 6.4 seconds out of his deficit to Hirvonen on the short SS16, Hagfors Sprint 2, so sat 16.6 seconds in arrears overnight. The battle for third took another twist on SS15 with Latvala, having got within ten seconds after SS14, gifted the spot when Sordo lost more than a minute when the Spaniard forgot to remove the radiator blanking plates before starting the stage and the C4's engine started to overheat, forcing a stop mid-stage to remove them. Grönholm celebrated twice passing through his favourite stage, Sågen, with the second-fastest time on the morning run and then taking the fastest time in the afternoon, he was still a lowly 29th on the leaderboard overnight, however. Sågen wasn't such a happy hunting ground for Räikkonen, the Finn's travails continuing on SS11 with a trip into the snowbank at the famous final hairpin.
Top 6 after Leg 2
1. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen - Ford Focus WRC 2:14:48.3
2. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena - Citroën C4 WRC +16.6
3. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila - Ford Focus WRC +51.4
4. Dani Sordo/Marc Martí - Citroën C4 WRC +1:46.2
5. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia - Citroën C4 WRC +2:42.1
6. Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor - Ford Focus WRC +4:17.9
Leg 3 - Loeb came out swinging at the start of the final day and nipped 0.2 seconds out of Hirvonen's advantage in SS17, Rämmen 1, but on the following test, SS18 Värmullsåsen, the Ford man smashed Loeb's time by 7.3 seconds. That was enough to convince the Frenchman to settle for second behind the Finn, having survived a brush with a snowbank in SS18. With Loeb's pace easing, Hirvonen duly reeled off the three remaining stages to take his first win in Sweden by a comfortable 42.3 seconds from the Citroën. The second works Ford of Latvala completed the podium, 1 minute 15.4 seconds down on Hirvonen. The returning Grönholm made it up to 21st overall at the finish, Petter Solberg recovered from his Leg 1 off to come home in ninth and the adventures of Kimi Räikkonen ended with 29th position as he learned the ropes of the WRC.
Top 10 Results
1. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen - Ford Focus WRC 3:09:30.4
2. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena - Citroën C4 WRC 3:10:12.7 +42.3
3. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila - Ford Focus WRC 3:10:45.8 +1:15.4 +33.1
4. Dani Sordo/Marc Martí - Citroën C4 WRC 3:12:12.0 +2:41.6 +1:26.2
5. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia - Citroën C4 WRC 3:14:45.7 +4:15.3 +1:33.7
6. Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor - Ford Focus WRC 3:15:23.8 +5:53.4 +1:38.1
7. Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin - Ford Focus WRC 3:17:24.3 +7:53.9 +2:00.5
8. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson - Subaru Impreza WRC 3:18:52.6 +9:22.2 +1:28.3
9. Petter Solberg/Phil Mills - Citroën C4 WRC 3:19:47.9 +10:17.5 +55.3
10. Per-Gunnar Andersson/Anders Fredriksson - Škoda Fabia S2000 3:21:49.3 +12:18.9 +2:01.4
Hirvonen quote - "It's fantastic! Absolutely fantastic and I'm really happy it's over after these last few stages. You can't imagine how nervous I was in there!"
SWRC and PWRC - In the supporting SWRC class for S2000 cars, home-grown hero Per-Gunnar Andersson romped to a 47.3-second win in a Škoda Fabia, his pace also scoring him a world championship point by finishing in tenth overall. Runner-up was the Fiesta of Janne Tuohino from fellow Fiesta pilot Martin Prokop in third - who made a little bit of history by setting the first fastest overall time for an S2000 car in SS16, Hagfors Sprint 2. Splitting PG and Tuohino in the overall results was Andreas Mikkelsen in M-Sport's development Fiesta S2000 but he wasn't registered for SWRC points. It was a battle of the Scandinavian Subarus in the PWRC as Swede Patrik Flodin led home Norwegian Anders Grøndal by 1 minute 13.1 seconds, well clear of Portuguese driver Armindo Araújo in third.
SWRC
1. Per-Gunnar Andersson/Anders Fredriksson - Škoda Fabia S2000 3:21:49.3
2. Janne Tuohino/Markku Tuohino - Ford Fiesta S2000 3:22:36.6 +47.3
3. Martin Prokop/Jan Tománek - Ford Fiesta S2000 3:24:45.7 +2:56.4
PWRC
1. Patrik Flodin/Göran Bergsten - Subaru Impreza STi 3:28:04.7
2. Anders Grøndal/Veronica Engan - Subaru Impreza STi 3:29:17.8 +1:13.1
3. Armindo Araújo/Miguel Ramalho - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 3:33:09.6 +5:04.9
Leg 1 - The rally returned to the WRC calendar as the opening round of the 2010 season, after a year off due to the FIA's event rotation system, and the event was rebranded as Rally Sweden from this year onwards. 2010 also marked the 60th anniversary of the first Swedish Rally. Opening proceedings was the Karlstad Superspecial on Thursday evening and going fastest went works Citroën pilot Dani Sordo by 2.0 seconds from fellow Citroën driver Sébastien Ogier. Ford number one Mikko Hirvonen slotted into third, 2.1 seconds down, and 0.2 seconds further back came 2009 world champion Sébastien Loeb in fourth. 2003 world champion Petter Solberg's event started on the back foot, losing 18.3 seconds with a spin in his private Citroën C4 WRC to sit down in 44th. SS2, Likenäs 1, got Friday's action underway and it was Loeb who made the first move, taking 3.3 seconds from his teammate Sordo to move into a 1.0-second lead. Petter Solberg's recovery drive started with the sixth-fastest time, gaining him thirty four places to sit in ninth. Making his World Rally Car debut in Sweden was 2007 Formula One world champion Kimi Räikkonen, the Finn was a frustrated man after struggling to see in the hanging snow from the Focus WRC of Khalid Al-Qassimi, who had taken a trip into a snowbank, and the Citroën man was forced to follow it through a large chunk of the stage. Loeb added a small amount to his lead in SS3, Viggen 1, but then a fastest time from Hirvonen in SS4, Torntorp 1, moved the Ford ahead of Sordo to sit 4.1 seconds behind the leading Citroën at service, with Sordo another 1.9 seconds back. The lunch halt added some fire to Hirvonen's belly and he flew through SS5, Likenäs 2, some 10.8 seconds faster than Loeb to hit the front, the Frenchman also slipped 0.4 seconds behind teammate Sordo and sat 6.7 seconds off the lead. Second works Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala lost ground with an overshoot and fell 28.0 seconds away from the leading trio, the stage also caused problems in the lower half of the top ten as Petter Solberg, Mads Østberg and Matthew Wilson all suffered incidents. Solberg and Østberg each lost a couple of minutes with a visit into the same snowbank, whilst the drama for Wilson came soon after he passed the Solberg off. The Cumbrian overshot the same junction that had caught out Latvala, with the closely following Solberg doing the same and clouting the Stobart Focus as he passes. Over the three remaining stages of the loop, Loeb took back second place and ate 1.6 seconds out of Hirvonen's lead in SS6, Viggen 2, before the leading Finn adds 3.3 seconds to his advantage in SS7, Torntorp 2, to sit 8.4 seconds up heading to the day-closing Karlstad Superspecial. There, Loeb nicked 2.2 seconds from Hirvonen so trailed by 6.2 seconds overnight. The second Citroën of Sordo was also well in touch another 4.4 seconds back, 10.6 seconds from the lead. The afternoon loop gave problems for two more runners, former rally winner Marcus Grönholm lost twelve minutes with an electrical issue on his private Focus WRC to effectively end his bid for a top result in his one-off return whilst Räikkonen lost a mammoth twenty-six minutes beached in a snowbank.
Top 6 after Leg 1
1. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen - Ford Focus WRC 1:08:04.8
2. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena - Citroën C4 WRC +6.2
3. Dani Sordo/Marc Martí - Citroën C4 WRC +10.6
4. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila - Ford Focus WRC _31.7
5. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia - Citroën C4 WRC +1:10.9
6. Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor - Ford Focus WRC +2:16.2
Leg 2 - Hirvonen started the day with a bang by adding 4.6 seconds to his lead margin in SS9, Vargåsen 1, but then the chasing Loeb hit back on the following three stages - taking 3.9 seconds in SS10, Sågen 1, then 0.2 seconds in SS11, Fredriksberg 1, and another 2.5 seconds in SS12, Hagfors Sprint 1, so the gap now sat at 4.2 seconds heading into lunchtime service. Sordo would fall away from the leading pair with a spin into a snowbank on SS11 but was fortunate to quickly be able to rejoin the stage, losing 16.1 seconds to his pace-setting stablemate Loeb and head fourth-placed Latvala by 11.2 seconds at service. Latvala entered the afternoon loop on a mission, a big attack in SS13, Vargåsen 2, saw him grabbing 11.0 seconds out of the margin to Sordo, with the gap now down to 10.2 seconds. The Finn's Ford teammate Hirvonen also stemmed the tide from Loeb by adding 2.7 seconds to his lead in SS13, then stretched it by a handy 7.9 seconds in SS14, Sågen 2, and an even healthier 8.2 seconds in SS15, Fredriksberg 2, as the Frenchman bemoaned a tyre strategy gamble which failed to pay off. The Citroën star did end the day brightly, however, to steal 6.4 seconds out of his deficit to Hirvonen on the short SS16, Hagfors Sprint 2, so sat 16.6 seconds in arrears overnight. The battle for third took another twist on SS15 with Latvala, having got within ten seconds after SS14, gifted the spot when Sordo lost more than a minute when the Spaniard forgot to remove the radiator blanking plates before starting the stage and the C4's engine started to overheat, forcing a stop mid-stage to remove them. Grönholm celebrated twice passing through his favourite stage, Sågen, with the second-fastest time on the morning run and then taking the fastest time in the afternoon, he was still a lowly 29th on the leaderboard overnight, however. Sågen wasn't such a happy hunting ground for Räikkonen, the Finn's travails continuing on SS11 with a trip into the snowbank at the famous final hairpin.
Top 6 after Leg 2
1. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen - Ford Focus WRC 2:14:48.3
2. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena - Citroën C4 WRC +16.6
3. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila - Ford Focus WRC +51.4
4. Dani Sordo/Marc Martí - Citroën C4 WRC +1:46.2
5. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia - Citroën C4 WRC +2:42.1
6. Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor - Ford Focus WRC +4:17.9
Leg 3 - Loeb came out swinging at the start of the final day and nipped 0.2 seconds out of Hirvonen's advantage in SS17, Rämmen 1, but on the following test, SS18 Värmullsåsen, the Ford man smashed Loeb's time by 7.3 seconds. That was enough to convince the Frenchman to settle for second behind the Finn, having survived a brush with a snowbank in SS18. With Loeb's pace easing, Hirvonen duly reeled off the three remaining stages to take his first win in Sweden by a comfortable 42.3 seconds from the Citroën. The second works Ford of Latvala completed the podium, 1 minute 15.4 seconds down on Hirvonen. The returning Grönholm made it up to 21st overall at the finish, Petter Solberg recovered from his Leg 1 off to come home in ninth and the adventures of Kimi Räikkonen ended with 29th position as he learned the ropes of the WRC.
Top 10 Results
1. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen - Ford Focus WRC 3:09:30.4
2. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena - Citroën C4 WRC 3:10:12.7 +42.3
3. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila - Ford Focus WRC 3:10:45.8 +1:15.4 +33.1
4. Dani Sordo/Marc Martí - Citroën C4 WRC 3:12:12.0 +2:41.6 +1:26.2
5. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia - Citroën C4 WRC 3:14:45.7 +4:15.3 +1:33.7
6. Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor - Ford Focus WRC 3:15:23.8 +5:53.4 +1:38.1
7. Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin - Ford Focus WRC 3:17:24.3 +7:53.9 +2:00.5
8. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson - Subaru Impreza WRC 3:18:52.6 +9:22.2 +1:28.3
9. Petter Solberg/Phil Mills - Citroën C4 WRC 3:19:47.9 +10:17.5 +55.3
10. Per-Gunnar Andersson/Anders Fredriksson - Škoda Fabia S2000 3:21:49.3 +12:18.9 +2:01.4
Hirvonen quote - "It's fantastic! Absolutely fantastic and I'm really happy it's over after these last few stages. You can't imagine how nervous I was in there!"
SWRC and PWRC - In the supporting SWRC class for S2000 cars, home-grown hero Per-Gunnar Andersson romped to a 47.3-second win in a Škoda Fabia, his pace also scoring him a world championship point by finishing in tenth overall. Runner-up was the Fiesta of Janne Tuohino from fellow Fiesta pilot Martin Prokop in third - who made a little bit of history by setting the first fastest overall time for an S2000 car in SS16, Hagfors Sprint 2. Splitting PG and Tuohino in the overall results was Andreas Mikkelsen in M-Sport's development Fiesta S2000 but he wasn't registered for SWRC points. It was a battle of the Scandinavian Subarus in the PWRC as Swede Patrik Flodin led home Norwegian Anders Grøndal by 1 minute 13.1 seconds, well clear of Portuguese driver Armindo Araújo in third.
SWRC
1. Per-Gunnar Andersson/Anders Fredriksson - Škoda Fabia S2000 3:21:49.3
2. Janne Tuohino/Markku Tuohino - Ford Fiesta S2000 3:22:36.6 +47.3
3. Martin Prokop/Jan Tománek - Ford Fiesta S2000 3:24:45.7 +2:56.4
PWRC
1. Patrik Flodin/Göran Bergsten - Subaru Impreza STi 3:28:04.7
2. Anders Grøndal/Veronica Engan - Subaru Impreza STi 3:29:17.8 +1:13.1
3. Armindo Araújo/Miguel Ramalho - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 3:33:09.6 +5:04.9
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Rally Sweden SM
An event for crews competing in the Swedish National championship ran on the opening two days of the rally, following the WRC field around the first loop of each day. The top three points scorers were in the WRC event - Per-Gunnar Andersson, Patrik Sandell and Patrik Flodin, but finishing top of the tree in the National section was the Ford Escort WRC of 1992 Swedish Rally winner Mats Jonsson. The varied field included the spectacularly driven Volvo 940s of Jimmy Olsson, Jan Johansson and David Eggum.
1. Per-Gunnar Andersson/Anders Fredriksson - Škoda Fabia S2000 1:02:27.3
2. Patrik Sandell/Emil Axelsson - Škoda Fabia S2000 1:03:47.9 +1:20.6
3. Patrik Flodin/Göran Bergsten - Subaru Impreza STi 1:04:09.6 +1:42.3
4. Mats Jonsson/Johnny Johansson - Ford Escort WRC 1:04:40.5 +2:13.2
5. Jonas Wigren/Jon Magnusson - Ford Focus WRC 1:04:56.4 +2:29.1
6. Jimmy Joge/John Stigh - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 1:06:05.3 +3:38.0
An event for crews competing in the Swedish National championship ran on the opening two days of the rally, following the WRC field around the first loop of each day. The top three points scorers were in the WRC event - Per-Gunnar Andersson, Patrik Sandell and Patrik Flodin, but finishing top of the tree in the National section was the Ford Escort WRC of 1992 Swedish Rally winner Mats Jonsson. The varied field included the spectacularly driven Volvo 940s of Jimmy Olsson, Jan Johansson and David Eggum.
1. Per-Gunnar Andersson/Anders Fredriksson - Škoda Fabia S2000 1:02:27.3
2. Patrik Sandell/Emil Axelsson - Škoda Fabia S2000 1:03:47.9 +1:20.6
3. Patrik Flodin/Göran Bergsten - Subaru Impreza STi 1:04:09.6 +1:42.3
4. Mats Jonsson/Johnny Johansson - Ford Escort WRC 1:04:40.5 +2:13.2
5. Jonas Wigren/Jon Magnusson - Ford Focus WRC 1:04:56.4 +2:29.1
6. Jimmy Joge/John Stigh - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 1:06:05.3 +3:38.0
