09 February 2004 - 00:59 Loeb breaks a long-standing tradition Rally Sweden - Finish

Sebastien Loeb accomplished a remarkable feat this weekend by winning the 53rd edition of the Swedish Rally. Sebastien Loeb becomes the first non- Scandinavian driver to win the Swedish event. A superb achievement by the Citroen driver, who wins his career's sixth WRC victory.

Perfect race by Seb
Some people might say that most of his rivals made mistakes, taking away their hopes of winning but that's in part the reason why Loeb's win is so impressive. The young Frenchman was not only very quick, he also avoided all the pitfalls in this tricky rally.

The strange mix of snow, ice, gravel and mud made tyre choices very difficult and grip unpredictable. Not easy to stay on the road in these conditions... Loeb was flawless all weekend.

With Loeb's victory and Sainz' fifth place, Citroen is taking the lead in the Constructors' Championship. Sainz must be satisfied with his fifth position despite missing fourth place mainly because of an engine problem in the last two stages of the event.

Costly power steering problem for Gronholm
Marcus Gronholm is certainly the expert of the Swedish Rally, having won the race three times in the past. The Finn proved it this year once again: he was Loeb's biggest threat this weekend. Marcus was the first leader of the race but a power steering problem made him lose almost a minute and ruined his chances of winning.

With eight fastest stage times, Gronholm ends the rally 46 seconds behind Loeb. Without his power steering problems, the scenario of the race - a possibly the outcome - would have been entirely different.

Gronholm's result enables Peugeot to stay in a good position in the Constructors' Championship, despite the retirement of Freddy Loix, who could not reach the finish after his car suffered from engine problems.

Solberg on the podium
By winning the first two rallies of the 2004 Championship, Loeb is in an ideal position against his rivals. Petter Solberg is one of them and his third place in Sweden comes as a relief after a disappointing performance at the Monte- Carlo Rally.

The Swedish Rally was not a "walk in the park" for Solberg. The Norwegian spun on many occasions and went off the roads a few times. After an "up and down" weekend, Solberg takes a satisfying third place at the finish.

Mikko Hirvonen had excellent stage times at the beginning of the rally, putting his name around seventh place in the standings. Unfortunately, the Finn went off the road in SS 9 and lost almost seven minutes in the process. Hirvonen drove more cautiously after that incident and finished the race in ninth place, giving two points to Subaru in the Constructors' Championship.

Ford made the right decision
Ford nominated Janne Tuohino to drive the second Focus for points in the Constructors' Championship. This decision turned out to be a wise choice, the Finn almost reaching a place on the podium. Janne made very few mistakes and finished the rally in a superb fourth place.

Markko Martin was also impressive this weekend, leading the race for a long time. The Estonian seemed to be in control of the situation until he made a costly mistake, hitting a rock hidden by snow. Martin lost six minutes with that incident and fell down to ninth place in the overall results. Markko drove aggressively to make up the lost time, ending the rally in seventh place.

Francois Duval did not have luck on his side when he went off the road in a near-deserted part of the road. The Belgian had to wait more than half an hour before getting some help to put back his car on the road.

Both Mitsubishi drivers out of the race
Mitsubishi know that their new Lancer is still in a development phase and that reliability may not be completely under control. The new car needs more testing to reach its full potential.

Gilles Panizzi made it to the finish in the first round of the Championship but could not do the same in Sweden. Transmission problems ended his race and the same reason eliminated his teammate Kristian Sohlberg a little bit later.

Bozian Racing celebrate
Bozian Racing came to Sweden with two Peugeot 206 WRC. One for Daniel Carlsson and the other one for Henning Solberg (the brother of Petter). Both men drove exceptionally well, finishing the race in the points for the first time. Henning Solberg scores two points and Daniel Carlsson grabs the final point for his eighth place finish.

Hugo GIGUERE
CAPSIS International [08/02/04 - 17:55]