Swedish Rally WRC (P) - 08-10 Feb 08

Posted: February 7, 2008 8:16 PM

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03/02/08
Stobart set for snowy sprint in Sweden
Next week sees the second round of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship as crews head north for the Uddeholm Swedish Rally. After a superb start to proceedings in Monte-Carlo last week the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team will be looking to continue its current form on the only true winter event this season.

This event is certainly one not be taken lightly but fortunately for the Stobart team a wealth of experience from both nominated point scoring drivers will be pushing forward the chase for a solid points finish once again.

Norwegian Henning Solberg will be the elemental factor as he takes on what is essentially his home event, for the tenth time in his career. With five consecutive Norwegian Rally Championship titles to his name Solberg and co-driver Cato Menkerud will be the ones to watch out for as they look to improve on their best result which they claimed last year by finishing fourth.

Gigi Galli heads to Sweden in a similar boat having contested the event seven times in the past with his best result coming in 2006 when he finished fourth, just seven seconds from a podium spot. Hailing from Livigno in the Alps, Galli is no stranger to driving on snow and will be looking for another fine result as he and co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini attack the Swedish roads for the first time in a Stobart Focus RS WRC07.

Recently celebrating his 21st birthday Britain’s Matthew Wilson will be looking for a belated gift next week as he tackles the icy Swedish roads for the third time in his career. Wilson and co-driver Scott Martin will be looking for another strong result after a well notched-up tenth in Monte-Carlo last week.

Renowned as the pure winter event for its icy surface and massive snow banks Sweden has always been one of the highest speed rallies in the championship. This is all thanks to the creation of studded snow tyres and more recently an asymmetric design where the studs are added during the production process, using technology specially patented by Pirelli.

This year sees a change in the route as Friday’s stages take a visit to the western part of the Värmland County to some classic stages used in 2000 and 2001. The remote service to be used at midday is located in Sunne, known as the town of fairytales.

The midday remote service on Saturday and Sunday will be in the town centre of Hagfors. Most of the stages on these two days will be familiar from previous years with some modifications. In total 340 kilometres of competitive mileage will be covered over 20 demanding stages.

Crews can expect anything from zero to -40 degree temperatures in what is one of the more traditional WRC stomping grounds. This year Rally HQ and permanent service park have been moved to the town of Karlstad in an effort to bring more crowds closer to the excitement. Like 2007 the Karlstad trotting track will play host to the 1.9 kilometre super special, run twice over day 1.

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Team Driver Gigi Galli said:
“I really like it in Sweden because we have some great memories here. In 2005 I was fighting for the top two or three places before we had a mechanical problem and then in 2006 we only just missed out on a podium finish. I really like driving sideways and I think this is why I really like driving on snow and is the reason we have gone quite well here in the past. I hope maybe we can produce some more good results this year and perhaps challenge for a podium once again. I am still learning about the new car and the team and this year I must do what is best for my team but we will see; hopefully it will be another successful snow rally for me.”

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Team Driver Henning Solberg said:
“This is the one I have been waiting for and hopefully we can do even better here this year after finishing fourth in 2007. I am still very inexperienced on tarmac so Monte-Carlo was really an event where I wanted to get experience and finish all the stages but Sweden will be different, it will be maximum attack. The Stobart team is in a great position already so I must remember points for the team is very important but snow is also where I am most comfortable in a rally car so we will try our very best to push for a podium spot.”

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Team Driver Matthew Wilson said:
“Now I have a full WRC event under my belt with the ‘07 car and Scott as my new co-driver I’m really looking forward to Sweden and to see what we can produce there. It’s definitely one of my more favoured events because of the incredible high speeds we are able to travel at on the ice packed roads. Last year was unfortunate with what happened in the extremely cold temperatures so this time round getting to the finish is priority and hopefully a good result can follow suit.”

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Team Principal Malcolm Wilson said:
“Following on from Monte-Carlo I hope the Stobart team can continue to score well in Sweden. Last year Henning finished fourth here and last week François came tantalisingly close to a podium so hopefully in Sweden we can go one better and get on the podium. This is an event Henning feels he can be very strong and two years ago Gigi led the event so a podium is certainly not out of the question. There will be a lot of strong local talent but for Matthew I think the top-ten is a good target to aim towards.”

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Ford aims to warm up Sweden's winter with Focus performance
Next week's Swedish Rally (7 - 10 February) lays claim to the tag of being the most specialised round of the 2008 FIA World Rally Championship by virtue of its date in the middle of the Scandinavian winter. And despite the vagaries of climate change which each year inspire pre-event debates about how icy and snowy the series' only all-winter round will be, BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team's drivers know they will encounter conditions here that will not be found elsewhere during the season.

After a relatively snow-free opening to the championship on Rallye Monte Carlo last month, purists will dream of ice-bound loose surface tracks, huge snow banks lining the roads and numbing cold plunging in excess of -20ºC. Teams must wait to see if that winter wonderland materialises, but Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen and team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila must again focus on the world of skinny studded tyres, anti-snow glare glasses and heated driving boots.

A traditional pure winter rally in the barren countryside of the Värmland region of central Sweden places huge demands on man and machine. The team's all-Finish driver line-up will feel comfortable having grown up in such conditions. But keeping their Ford Focus RS World Rally Cars at peak performance in the unrelenting cold requires huge resolve and determination from technicians forced to lie outside in the snow in such extremes.

Winter has yet to properly arrive around the rally base in Karlstad, but both Hirvonen and Latvala enjoy the challenge of winter driving – using the tungsten-tipped steel studs protruding from Pirelli's tyres to bite into the icy surface to provide amazing grip while 'leaning' their cars into the snow banks that line the forest tracks to guide them around corners at maximum speed. Unsurprisingly, the event suits northern Europeans and only one non-Nordic driver has won here in its 45-year history.

Hirvonen, second on Rallye Monte Carlo, has five previous starts here to his name and finished third in 2007. The 27-year-old won the championship's last winter rally in Norway in 2007. "Everyone is asking if I feel I'm the favourite," he said. "There are a few possible winners and I'm one of them, but I don't regard myself as the favourite. There's a little pressure, but I felt pressure in Rallye Monte Carlo and had a good result there. This is the first rally that I'm really thinking I have to win if I want to fight for the drivers' title.

"I hope the conditions are full winter. If there's a lot of snow and ice then Pirelli's tyres will work well. Reliability will also be important because there is no traditional 30-minute service in the middle of the day, just a 15-minute remote service using only spare parts carried in the car. I don't agree with that because if a car has a minor problem early in the morning then a driver can be stuck with it for the rest of the day. But the Focus is a reliable car so I'm not too concerned," added Hirvonen.

This is Latvala's fourth Swedish Rally and the 22-year-old is hoping the snow and ice arrives in time. "A proper winter rally is great fun. I've driven many snow rallies and the feeling of driving fast in winter is one that I really enjoy. The conditions are more forgiving and the car spends more time sideways than on a gravel rally, because that style helps to get the car to turn into bends," he said.

"It's not so easy when the conditions aren’t so good. A lack of snow isn't too much of a problem but if there is no ice and the gravel comes through the surface, then it can rip out the studs from the tyres and destroy them. Where the lack of snow becomes a problem is if a driver needs to use the snowbanks. If you carry too much speed into a bend you can lean into the snow banks to guide the car round the corner. But if they are small and soft, when the rear of the car hits the bank it can drag the front in as well. It's important to keep the front wheels turned away from the bank to avoid that," he explained.

Driving a third official Focus RS and making his Swedish debut is Abu Dhabi's Khalid Al Qassimi and co-driver Michael Orr. "It's difficult to think about how I will approach the rally itself. I've only driven on snow and ice for one brief test about a year ago and so have little experience. However, it's clear that it will be completely different to asphalt or gravel," said 35-year-old Al Qassimi.

"The right approach will only come from as much mileage on the rally as possible. We'll start at a steady pace to understand the conditions and how the car works in them and build from there. I gather that the driving technique on snow and ice is to keep the wheels spinning so the studs cut into the ice as much as possible, but of course I won't be able to develop that until I arrive for the rally," he added.

Team News
* Five other Focus RS cars will start the rally. Gigi Galli / Giovanni Bernacchini and Henning Solberg / Cato Menkerud will be nominated for points by the Stobart VK M-Sport team, with Matthew Wilson / Scott Martin driving a third car for the squad. There will also be privately-entered cars for Andreas Mikkelsen / Ola Floene and Peter Van Merksteijn / Hans Van Beek.

* As part of the sport's new tyre regulations, BP Ford Abu Dhabi will have just one tyre pattern available from new tyre partner, Pirelli. The all-new Sottozero is available in a narrow size with long studs to penetrate the snow and bite into the ice beneath. Each car can carry two spares.

* Following the rally the team has a four-day test gravel test planned in the south of France. Hirvonen will drive initially on 14 - 15 February with Latvala taking over for the final two days.

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The 'Reds' gear up for wintry Sweden
Although ice and snow was once again absent from the stages of this year's Monte Carlo Rally, wintry conditions shouldn't escape the Swedish Rally, the second round of the 2008 World Rally Championship. For the calendar's only all-out winter fixture, Citroën Total has entered C4 WRCs for Seìbastien Loeb/Daniel Elena and Dani Sordo/Marc Martiì.

The line-up of Citroën entries in Sweden will also include a privately-entered C4 WRC for Urmo Aava/Kuldar Sikk and a Xsara WRC entered by Conrad Rautenbach/David Senior. These cars are prepared and run PH Sport with support from Citroën Sport Technologies technicians.

The event continues to be based in Sweden's Värmland region but this season's visit features a significantly revised format, since some 60 per cent of the stages are new compared with recent years. Indeed, the organisers have profited from the scope offered by the concept of remote service zones to strike further afield and return to classic territory that hasn't been used since 2000.

The Swedish Rally's gently undulating, flowing roads have long been a hit with the drivers who tend to cite the event amongst their favourites. "Competing on these extremely fast, icy stages is sheer delight," confirms Seìbastien Loeb. "Controlling long, high-speed power-slides, setting up the car for corners and using the snowbanks to stay on line is a great experience. When the studs give good grip, it really is a fantastic rally."

Dani Sordo takes up his team-mate's last point to highlight one of the difficulties inherent in the WRC's annual trip to Sweden: "When the studs bite, you can do what you want with your car and it's tremendous fun. However, if a coating of snow prevents the studs from digging in, it can be more difficult to be precise in your driving. And when you add the extremely high speeds we reach in Sweden into the equation, then this clearly isn't an easy event. It calls for significant experience of this sort of terrain and it's no coincidence that few non-Nordic drivers have won in Karlstad. This will be my third attempt and my objective will be to score points for Citroën."

"Our winter testing programme included preparation for this highly specific event," says Citroën Sport's Technical Manager Xavier Mestelan-Pinon. "A long list of parameters has to be taken into account, such as the subzero temperatures, the high average speeds, the presence of snowbanks and the long reaction time between the moment the driver turns the wheel and the moment the car responds. This phenomenon is due to the narrow tyres we use and the small amount of rubber that is in contact with the ground. Without snow, it can be a particularly tough event for the dampers. When frozen dirt becomes exposed, the going gets much rougher and harder on the mechanicals. This year's regulations dictate just one type of studded tyre, the Pirelli Sottozero, whereas in previous years we were able to choose by how much the studs protruded from the tread blocks. That's an important factor and, like the other teams, we lack hindsight..."

The Swedish Rally will see Seìbastien Loeb and Daniel Elena line up for the start of their 100th world class event together: "It's a nice round figure, but it's not that important to me," observes Seb. "Our objective will be to try to win, which won't be easy. For one thing, we will start the weekend running first on the road and that can often be a handicap in Sweden. Our rivals will also be out to draw level after the Monte Carlo Rally and I'm expecting a close fight. Sure, it would be nice to celebrate our 100th start with a win but scoring points in both championships will also be important and I will base my pace on the way the rally unfolds..."

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SWRT to come out fighting for the season’s only specialist snow rally
The Subaru World Rally Team heads to the long and winding forest routes of Rally Sweden ready to tackle the challenge of all-out sideways action as crews wrestle their machines across sheet ice. The only specialist snow rally of the year, it is one of the fastest and most competitive as WRC crews battle to prove their mettle on the only wholly ice-covered speed tests they will encounter all year.

Travelling to the city of Karlstad for the event that has honed the skills of so many past greats, it is clear to see how the conditions develop the flamboyant mastery of Scandinavians behind the wheel. Aboard his Subaru Impreza WRC2007, Petter Solberg is no exception. The Norwegian grew up driving cars on the tundra of his homeland and won here in 2005, finishing on the podium twice since joining the team.

There is a finite skill demonstrated on few other events of flicking the car into the long and twisting corners and ‘leaning’ against the snow banks, literally using them to guide the car through the icy corners. Rally Sweden is the first competitive outing for Pirelli’s Sottozero ice tyre. The skinny rubber is dotted with metal studs designed to bite through the ice into the harder-packed surface below, producing fantastic grip on the most treacherous of conditions.

This year the event is based in Karlstad, and opens with a spectator-friendly speed test on Thursday night around the city’s 1.9 kilometre horse trotting track. Conditions in Sweden traditionally have made for one of the most extreme events of the season, but this year teams and organisers alike are watching the weather with trepidation. While snow is predicted over the weekend, there is currently a lack of snow on the stages. With average temperatures just above freezing, it is somewhat uncharacteristic of a rally that can see conditions plummet to minus 20 degrees Celsius.

In addition to the roads being incredibly treacherous, they are also very fast and flowing. In fact, the wintry routes are amongst the fastest of the entire season. Demanding maximum confidence from crews in their vehicles, the event is a stern test of man and machine and huge gains can be made by those fully commitment and driving on the edge.

The route this year comprises five new stages, one of which has been resurrected from 2000. Drivers who learn these new routes fastest and perfect their tricky pace notes to avoid mistakes will gain a significant advantage. With three remote services in Sunne and Hagfors, crews will tackle 20 stages and just over 340 competitive kilometres before reaching the finish.

Entries
The Subaru World Rally Team have entered two Impreza WRC2007s for Rally Sweden. Petter Solberg / Phil Mills will drive car number five and Chris Atkinson / Stéphane Prévot will be in car number six. Petter has only missed one Rally Sweden since his WRC debut in 1998 whilst this will only be Chris’ fourth attempt, and his first alongside Stéphane.

Team quotes
David Richards, Subaru World Rally Team Principal: “Despite being held on roads covered with snow and sheet ice, Sweden is one of the fastest events of the year and most certainly favours those drivers with experience of these conditions. Petter was brought up on these roads but for Chris it must be an extraordinary contrast from the Australian outback and yet I expect him to do extremely well and have every confidence that both our drivers will be well in the points again this weekend."

Paul Howarth, Subaru World Rally Team operations director: “We’ve seen the situation before that certain stages have had little snow until just before the start of the event, but what it needs is a real cold snap to give the routes a hard base of ice, else the stages will just get torn up. It’s generally an easy rally on the cars, but it’s physically demanding for the drivers as they need an aggressive approach on this type of surface. It’s very very fast and everyone will be fighting to take an early advantage. The snow banks are important as drivers use them through every corner and they also cover huge ditches at the sides of the road. Without the banks to guide the cars away from the ditches, costly mistakes will be easier to make.”

Driver quotes
Petter Solberg: “It’s the first snow rally this year and I’m looking forward to it. We need to drive very differently here, so it’s about who can adapt. There’s always a lot of fans there and it’s great to have their support. We’ve won here before but it’s so so tricky you never know what can happen. We’ll go there and drive our own rally, push as hard as we can, and see what happens. We can’t do any more than that, and I hope we can have another good finish. It’s about being fast but not making any mistakes.”

Chris Atkinson: “We’re approaching Sweden much the same way as we did Monte Carlo – we go there aiming for top five, top six results and try to be as consistent as possible. Rally Sweden is a specialist snow event and the driving style you need there is obviously totally different. Coming off tarmac we’ll have to adapt quickly to the snow and get up to speed as quickly as possible. In Monte you had to be neat and smooth, but Sweden is probably one of the most aggressive rallies of the year.”

Between the rallies
There is only a week between Rallye Monte Carlo and Rally Sweden, so the drivers have been using the time to relax a little, train and prepare for the snow. Petter and Chris live in Monaco so there was no need to travel home after the rally. Both drivers spent time with friends and family, and Chris celebrated on Sunday night with sportsman friends who watched the final day’s action from a yacht in Monaco’s famous harbour.

The Impreza WRC2007s returned from Monte Carlo on Monday and the pressure was immediately on for the crew to rebuild and re-prepare them in time for initial shakedown runs on Wednesday 30 January

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Swedish Rally WRC

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• 2008 World Rally Championship