Sun February 8, 2004

 1st time no Swedish win for Peugeot Today we had to break with tradition. In general because for the first time ever a non-Nordic driver won the traditional Rally Sweden. But for Peugeot as well, as for the first time in history the Peugeot works team has been beaten in Sweden. On the good side however, we had the ...

 Perfect Loeb disrespects tradition! Today WRC history has been written when for the first time in the entire history of the WRC and the 45 years old history of the Rally Sweden a non-Nordic driver managed to win this event! It is as well the first time ever the Peugeot works team has been beaten here. In altogether...

 Unofficial results Sweden 04

NEWS JUST IN

 Makes title battle @ 09:03 AM - provisional, unofficial standings after Sweden: 1st Citroen 24points // 2nd Ford 22 // 3rd Peugeot 17 // 4th Subaru 10 // 5th Mitsubishi 3 // there was nobody left for the last point again

 Drivers title battle @ 09:02 AM - provisional, unofficial standings after Sweden: 1st Loeb 20points // 2nd Grönholm 13 // 3rd Märtin 10 // 4th Solberg 8 // 5th Duval 6 // 6th Tuohino 5 // =7th Loix 4 // =7th Sainz 4 // =9th Panizzi 3 // =9th H.Solberg 3 // =11th Burri 1 // =11th Carlsson 1

 S end - Congrats Séb Loeb!!!! @ 08:54 AM - Supposed to be French asphalt specialist turns 1st non-Nordic driver in WRC history to win Rally Sweden! Unofficial, provisional final positions: 1. Loeb 3:26:17.7, 2. Grönholm +46.6 3. Solberg +1:21.5 4. Tuohino +1:42.1 5. Sainz +2:17.0 6. H Solberg +4:17.6 7. Märtin +5:38.3 8. Carlsson +5:50.4 9. Hirvonen +9:18.2 10. Eriksson +12:37.4

 S SS18 - One more to go... @ 07:51 AM - ...but excitement nevertheless. Sainz seems to have oil pressure problems and might be out of the rally. Sainz currently parked 10m behind stage finish. Grönholm's and Solberg's Utyres are completely worn. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS18: 1. Loeb 3:20:04.5, 2. Grönholm +54.3 3. Solberg +1:21.2 4. Tuohino +1:41.6 5. Sainz +1:54.7 6. H Solberg +4:10.2 7. Märtin +5:37.7 8. Carlsson +5:50.4 9. Hirvonen +9:11.3 10. Eriksson +12:26.6

 Carlos out? @ 07:44 AM - The fight Sainz vs Tuohino is over, Tuohino has gained 13s over Sainz, however we are getting reports that Carlos has an oil pressure problem and might not even be able to continue!

 S SS17 - Tuohino & Sainz tie @ 06:53 AM - Incredible battle for 4th. anne tuohino and Carlos Sainz went into the stage only 0.2s apart and they still are, they tied in the stage! Unofficial, provisional positions after SS17: 1. Loeb 3:07:45.4, 2. Grönholm +59.0 3. Solberg +1:20.2 4. Tuohino +1:39.6 5. Sainz +1:39.8 6. H Solberg +3:52.1 7. Märtin +5:32.7 8. Carlsson +5:39.3 9. Hirvonen +9:04.1 10. Eriksson +11:51.6

 S SS16 - Grönholm quick @ 04:47 AM - Grönholm wins the stage by promising margin for it being just around 10km. The Tuohino vs Sainz battle for 4th is developing into a thriller, Tuohino re-took 4th place the stage before, now Sainz has the faster time and narrows the gap to just 0.2s. Märtin passes Carlsson, which was on the cards for a while. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS16: 1. Loeb 3:00:21.3, 2. Grönholm +1:00.4 3. Solberg +1:19.4 4. Tuohino +1:43.8 5. Sainz +1:44.0 6. H Solberg +3:45.5 7. Märtin +5:36.0 8. Carlsson +5:37.7 9. Hirvonen +9:02.7 10. Eriksson +11:30.1

 S SS15 - Tuohino wins stage... @ 03:29 AM - ...and passes Sainz for 4th again, awell a battle going on there. Loeb meanwhile takes it easy. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS15: 1. Loeb 2:54:10.6, 2. Grönholm +1:07.5 3. Solberg +1:22.9 4. Tuohino +1:47.1 5. Sainz +1:48.7 6. H Solberg +3:44.0 7. Carlsson +5:36.1 8. Märtin +5:39.3 9. Hirvonen +8:51.3 10. Eriksson +11:15.9

 S SS14 - Grönholm spins again @ 02:54 AM - Grönholm spins and loses 40s, the fight for victory is basically over now. Sainz wins stage and moves past Tuohino. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS14: 1. Loeb 2:41:56.5, 2. Grönholm +1:12.4 3. Solberg +1:27.6 4. Sainz +1:51.7 5. Tuohino +1:52.6 6. H Solberg +3:32.3 7. Carlsson +5:27.0 8. Märtin +5:42.0 9. Hirvonen +8:49.9 10. Eriksson +10:42.9

Sat February 7, 2004

 The Grönholm helicopter Even though the Swedish victory is probably less likely now than it was after leg1, Marcus Grönholm had an excellent and especially exciting day during leg2. Losing a minute yesterday with a power steering problem, he started day2 in 6th place – and ended the day in 2nd! This is ...

 unofficial leg2 results and leg3 order

NEWS JUST IN

 S leg2 - no attack in super special @ 11:48 AM - Unofficial, provisional positions after leg2: 1. Loeb 2:34:22.7, 2. Grönholm +40.6 3. Solberg +1:28.1 4. Tuohino +1:55.7 5. Sainz +1:56.5 6. H Solberg +3:25.8 7. Carlsson +5:27.3 8. Märtin +5:44.5 9. Hirvonen +8:47.3 10. Eriksson +10:25.8

 S SS12 - The Grönholm helicopter @ 10:32 AM - Grönholm spun at top speed near the start of the stage taking the whole front of the car off, the car kept on spinning and spinning like a helicopter. Loix has retired after being plagued by a big misfire for a few stages. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS12: 1. Loeb 2:32:24.5, 2. Grönholm +40.4 3. Solberg +1:30.8 4. Tuohino +1:48.8 5. Sainz +1:58.1 6. H Solberg +3:26.2 7. Carlsson +5:27.4 8. Märtin +5:44.3 9. Hirvonen +8:46.9 10. Eriksson +10:17.3

 S SS11 - Märtin's dream over! @ 09:11 AM - Märtin went off and lost over 3m, the car is damaged but he is continuing. Loeb now leads but only 26.2s ahead of Grönholm. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS11: 1. Loeb 2:11:26.6, 2. Grönholm +26.2 3. Tuohino +1:15.1 4. Solberg +1:27.3 5. Sainz +1:52.9 6. H Solberg +2:57.1 7. Carlsson +4:53.2 8. Loix +4:59.2 9. Märtin +5:31.5 10. Hirvonen +8:18.8

 Märtin in problems! @ 09:04 AM - He is reported to have lost a wheel near the start of SS11. This would hand the lead to Loeb.

 S SS10 - Snow in Malta @ 08:00 AM - Malta2, that stage in Sweden that is. Stage win by Grönholm, Solberg dropped about 15s.... Unofficial, provisional positions after SS10: 1. Märtin 2:00:09.8, 2. Loeb +22.4 3. Grönholm +47.0 4. Tuohino +1:25.3 5. Solberg +1:36.7 6. Sainz +2:10.1 7. H Solberg +3:05.3 8. Carlsson +5:01.2 9. Loix +5:05.7

 S SS9 - Twisty stage with twists @ 04:32 AM - Duval off, Hirvonen off, both lost loads of time. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS9: 1. Märtin 1:54:27.3, 2. Loeb +25.8 3. Grönholm +54.6 4. Tuohino +1:21.7 5. Solberg +1:26.6 6. Sainz +2:13.6 7. H Solberg +3:04.0 8. Loix +4:57.6 9. Carlsson +5:00.4 10. Eriksson +7:24.7

 S SS8 - New podium @ 04:31 AM - 3rd fastest stage time in a row for Grönholm while Sainz went off losing just under a minute. Carlsson also went off dropping near 2 minutes. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS8: 1. Märtin 1:40:37.9, 2. Loeb +30.0 3. Grönholm +51.6 4. Tuohino +1:07.0 5. Solberg +1:17.7 6. Hirvonen +1:35.8 7. Sainz +1:40.9 8. Duval +2:00.5 9. H Solberg +2:50.5 10. Loix +4:22.3

 S SS7 - Peugeots fly!... @ 02:55 AM - Grönholm on the road (2nd stage win on the trott), Loix off the road (dented right hand side and pride). Daniel Carlsson's stage time that displayed him as the stage winner has been altered by the organisers. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS7: 1. Märtin 1:28:40.1, 2. Loeb +25.8 3. Sainz +45.4 4. Grönholm +53.7 5. Tuohino +59.4 6. Solberg +1:15.7 7. Hirvonen +1:35.2 8. Duval +1:53.4 9. Carlsson +2:35.6 10. H Solberg +2:42.2

 S SS6 - Solberg off @ 02:52 AM - Petter Solberg went into a ditch for 45s. Grönholm wins stage narrowly ahead of Märtin and Loeb and makes up two places. Kristian Sohlberg in the 2nd Mitsubishi didn't take the start with transmission problems. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS6: 1. Märtin 1:22:49.0, 2. Loeb +23.3 3. Sainz +47.6 4. Grönholm +58.0 5. Tuohino +59.8 6. Solberg +1:11.3 7. Hirvonen +1:30.9 8. Duval +1:42.6 9. Loix +2:04.8 10. Carlsson +2:20.8

Fri February 6, 2004

 Xsaras in Second and Fourth

 Solberg & Mikko With the Goods on Leg 1

 Shocker of a day for Lancer Crews

 Martin Leads Swedish Rally

 unofficial leg1 results and leg2 order

 Marcus promises to fight back The Peugeot 307 WRC proved once again to be competitive in the hands of Marcus Grönholm. Marcus grabbed the lead from the start of the event. Leg1 saw two runs over one of the longest and fastest stages of the championship, the 52.57km Granberget stage. In both runs Marcus Grönho...

 Peugeot quotes after SS2&3

NEWS JUST IN

 S leg1 - Good lead for Märtin @ 11:41 AM - Wee stage with times under 2min, no driver would risk anything here as you can't win, only lose. First on the road seems to have had an advantage as Loeb wins stage by 1s with all other gaps being peanuts. Unofficial, provisional positions after leg1: 1. Märtin 1:11:25.9, 2. Loeb +23.3 3. Solberg +26.9 4. Sainz +44.1 5. Tuohino +55.4 6. Grönholm +58.7 7. Hirvonen +1:16.2 8. Duval +1:27.6 9. Carlsson +1:38.1 10. Loix +1:43.3

 S SS4 - Monster part 2 @ 09:18 AM - Märtin wins the Granberget stage for the 2nd time, but gaps at the top are surprisingly slim for this 54km stage. Grönholm "powersteering but no studs", Solberg, Sainz & Carlsson also say "wrong tyres". Both Mitsubishi in trouble, Panizzi stopped. Now only a mini superspecial left for today. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS4: 1. Märtin 1:09:26.3, 2. Loeb +24.3 3. Solberg +26.0 4. Sainz +44.1 5. Tuohino +54.5 6. Grönholm +56.9 7. Hirvonen +1:13.1 8. Duval +1:25.9 9. Carlsson +1:35.4 10. Loix +1:40.1

 S SS3 - The monster stage @ 05:53 AM - Marcus Grönholm lost his power steering right on this longest stage about 35km from the end. He drops about a minute and well down the leader board. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS3: 1. Märtin 44:24.5, 2. Loeb +14.2 3. Sainz +17.5 4. Solberg +22.6 5. Tuohino +33.3 6. Hirvonen +41.5 7. Grönholm +53.8 8. Carlsson +59.6 9. Duval +1:07.3 10. Loix +1:10.0

 S SS2 - Carlos on form @ 04:14 AM - Carlos wins the stage, top crews only covered by split seconds on this one, Henning Solberg posting identical time to his World Champion brother. Next stage is the 52km monster Granberget. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS2: 1. Grönholm 19:32.1, 2. Sainz +3.3 3. Märtin +5.0 4. Loeb +5.7 5. Tuohino +12.1 6. Hirvonen +18.3 7. Solberg +18.6 8. Carlsson +22.2 9. Duval +30.1 10. H Solberg +35.4

Thu February 5, 2004

 Taking the 307 to Conquered Territory After its encouraging result in Monte Carlo with the new 307, Peugeot Sport turns its attention now to Round 2 of the 2004 World Rally Championship in Sweden. The French squad has only excellent memories of this spectacular, high-speed event where it is unbeaten since 2000! Marcu...