04 February 2004 - 15:15 Swedish Rally - 100% winter roads!

After the traditional opening round of the World Rally Championship last weekend in Monte-Carlo, the teams are now heading to Sweden (6-8 February) for a classic winter race, the Swedish Rally.

The stages are held in the Varmland forest and are very fast and spectacular. In these conditions, there is never a question as to what type of tyres to use: studded tyres are the norm to bite on the ice and give enough grip on these fast (near a 115 km/h average) stages. The drivers are free to show their talent under low-grip conditions but so far the Swedish Rally has always been won by a Scandinavian driver.

Just like in 2003, the Swedish Rally will use a single service area format, this time located on the airport runway of Hagfors.

The organisers designed a very compact itinerary for the 2004 edition of the race. The first leg is made up of five stages, for a total of more than 140 timed kilometres. The following day is the longest leg with around 150 timed kilometres divided up in eight stages. Then, the 53rd edition of the Swedish Rally will end of Sunday with the last leg of around 100 km of timed distance, made up of six stages.

The competitors will have to get used to a "cold start" in the morning since they will have to drive more than 80 km between the official host city of the event (Karlstad) and the service are in Hagfors.

Hugo GIGUERE
CAPSIS International [30/01/04 - 15:53]