Mon February 10, 2003

 Sweden 2003 Final Results & Retirements

Sun February 9, 2003

 Markko the man for Fourth

 Tommi & Subaru On Form in Sweden

 A Strong Result for Hyundai

 Citroen Maintain Championship Leads

 The winning record is still in place

NEWS JUST IN

 SS17 Hagfors bad news for Skoda! @ 01:52 PM - The Hagfors stage currently running is bad news for Skoda! A year ago Skoda lost Eriksson from a points scoring position with a blown engine. Right now Auriol is reported to go very slow, again with an engine problem!

 Little notes with 1 stage to go @ 12:41 AM - You won't believe who is leading the PWRC section with one stage to go - 56 year old Stig Blomqvist! His lead is however narrow, only 2.5s ahead of Janusz Kulig. Stig was as well helped by the retirement of Toshi Arai, who blew his Subaru engine in SS15. Another late retirement was that of Petter Solberg's brother Henning, he blew the Mitsubishi engine in SS16, being 15th overall.

 After SS16 (Brunnberg) @ 11:58 AM - One stage remains ... (1) GRONHOLM 2:43:39.2 ... (2) MAKINEN +46.8 ... (3) BURNS +1:20.5 ... (4) MARTIN +1:52.6 ... (5) MCRAE +2:17.0 ... (6) SOLBERG +2:28.0 ... (7) GARDEMEISTER +3:06.6 ... (8) SAINZ +3:14.2 ... (9) LOEB +3:17.9 ... (10) LOIX +3:27.4

 Stage 16 comments and quotes @ 11:44 AM - The crews arrive at the end of the Brunnberg test ... Gardemeister "we try to keep on the line to maintain the grip" ... Sainz "that was not so easy stage" ... McRae "that didn't go as well as I wanted it to, it didn't flow well" ... Martin "we tried very hard to get a bit of a gap to Colin, and I think we succeeded" ...

 Weather holds for final day @ 11:21 AM - The temperature remains around zero degrees, however the general thaw has not affected the stages and the final two tests should still have a good snow covering. Markko Martin remarked that the snow on SS15 was still a significant problem.

 After SS15 (Hara) @ 11:15 AM - Times settle before two long stages ... (1) Gronholm 2:28:27.5 ... (2) Makinen +39.7 ... (3) Burns +1:10.9 ... (4) Martin +1:55.6 ... (5) McRae +2:10.0 ... (6) Solberg +2:23.7 ... (7) Gardemeister +2:49.1 ... (8) Sainz +2:58.0

 3 Stages Remain @ 09:07 AM - Janne TUOHINO lost 6 minutes on a snow bank, Overall after the stage 14 - 1 GRONHOLM/RAUTIAINEN, 2 MAKINEN/LINDSTROM +00:39.0, 3 BURNS/REID +01:07.7, 4 MARTIN/PARK +01:53.0, 5 MCRAE/RINGER +02:11.0, 6 SOLBERG/MILLS +02:20.6, 7 GARDEMEISTER/LUKANDER +02:42.6, 8 SAINZ/MARTI +02:51.3 9 LOIX/SMEETS +03:07.9 10 LOEB/ELENA +03:09.1

 Tommi Takes SS13 @ 08:40 AM - Overall after the stage - 1 GRONHOLM/RAUTIAINEN, 2 MAKINEN/LINDSTROM +00:37.3, 3 BURNS/REID +01:01.7, 4 MARTIN/PARK +01:47.9, 5 MCRAE/RINGER +02:06.7, 6 SOLBERG/MILLS +02:14.1, 7 GARDEMEISTER/LUKANDER +02:30.7, 8 SAINZ/MARTI +02:36.8 9 LOIX/SMEETS +02:48.7 10 LOEB/ELENA +02:50.3

Sat February 8, 2003

 Martin Powering in Fourth

 Gardemeister Continues Well on Leg 2

 Points Just in Sight for Loix

 Leg 2 Results, Leg 3 Starting Order

NEWS JUST IN

 Leaderboard at end of leg two @ 04:38 PM - After stage 12 ... (1) Gronholm 2:03:29.1 ... (2) Makinen +38.8 ... (3) Burns +1:00.9 ... (4) Martin +1:46.0 ... (5) McRae +2:02.5 ... (6) Solberg +2:12.1 ... (7) Gardemeister +2:25.8 ... (8) Sainz +2:30.1 ... (9) Loix +2:40.8 ... (10) Loeb +2:51.4

 Overall after SS11 @ 03:40 PM - (1) Gronholm 2:01:31.3 ... (2) Makinen +39.8 ... (3) Burns +1:01.8 ... (4) Martin +1:46.5 ... (5) Mc Rae +2:02.4 ... (6) Solberg +2:22.3 ... (7) Gardemeister +2:24.3 ... (8) Sainz +2:30.4 ... (9) Loix +2:38.4 ... (10) Loeb +2:49.4

 Overall after stage nine @ 12:51 AM - (1) Gronholm 1:33:09.9 ... (2) Makinen +31.2 ... (3) Burns +45.3 ... (4) Martin +1:26.0 ... (5) Solberg +1:37.8 ... (6) Gardemeister +1:42.2 ... (7) McRae +1:48.2 ... (8) Loix +1:50.9 ... (9) Sainz +2:02.5 ... (10) Tuohino +2:12.7

 Lejen (SS9) details @ 11:55 AM - Schwarz, that stage was great fun, but not very fast time - McRae, I used a standard ice tyre which worked well, the stage was reasonably clean, Martin - the stage was very, very fast, and the second part was new to me ... Gronholm wins the stage ... Makinen second ...

 News flash from stage eight @ 11:16 AM - News from the Fredriksberg stage indicates that Juuso Pykalisto has crashed and the car is on its roof ... Harri Rovanpera followed and crashed into Pykalisto's Peugeot ... there were few spectators in that area of the stage ... Pykalisto is suffering from shock, but according to the FIA there is no medical emergency ... the stage has been stopped, however results are likely to be allocated ... an ambulance has been sent into the stage ... stage nine (Lejen) will start at 1239 hours ...

 Strange accident @ 11:15 AM - It appears Juuso Pykälistö has rolled in SS8. There were no marshals, no warning and Harri Rovanperä could not avoid crashing into Juuso's stranded Peugeot! Both drivers are out of the rally, but reported to be OK.

 Fredriksberg (SS8) details @ 10:36 AM - Stage halted temporarily due to crash of Juuso Pykalisto, more news as we have it ... stage record is 10:15.8 (Gronholm in 2002) ... Schwarz struggled being first car and no lines ... Hirvonen found stage difficult on wrong tyres ... McRae "Not suffering too much running early on the stage, a lot of spectators in there but all appeared to be in sensible places" ... Sainz "There was a lot of loose snow in there, much worse than SS7" ... Martin was surprised by the large amount of snow on the stage ... Gardemeister "We try very hard in there, cutting the banks and pushing very hard" ...

 Peugeots destroy rear bumpers @ 09:38 AM - There's been quite a battle this morning amongst the Peugeot drivers to see who can make the most damage to the rear bumpers of their 206WRC - the winner at service after SS7 was Harri Rovanpera with almost complete destruction, however Burns and Gronholm are not much better - another change for them all at service.

 Rovanpera presses Burns (SS7) @ 08:14 AM - Rovanpera wins stage with average speed of 122.11 kph ... Overall after SS7 ... (1) Gronholm 1:10:26.2 ... (2) Makinen +25.5 ... (3) Burns +31.6 ... (4) Rovanpera +32.1 ... (5) Martin +36.4 ... (6) Pykalisto +1:14.7 ... (7) Solberg +1:18.0 ... (8) Gardemeister +1:23.6 ... (9) Loix +1:25.3 ... (10) Tuohino +1:29.5

 SS7 (Granberget 2) details @ 07:53 AM - The stage is not as snowy as on the first run ... crews setting faster times ... Carlos Sainz stalled at the start ... Jussi Velimaki has left the road ... Markko "A lot more grip than yesterday, much more fun to drive" ... Tommi "We could not find any grip at all, due to the tyre wear, but it's OK" ... Marcus "That was not so good, the car was not stable, problem with the tyres" ... Harri Rovanpera quickest by 2.6 seconds ...

 After Leg 1 @ 01:52 AM - 1. Gronholm / Rautiainen 48:54.1, 2. Mäkinen / Lindstrom + 27.0, 3. Burns / Reid + 30.8, 4. Rovanpera / Pietilainen , 5. Pykalisto / Mertsalmi + 59.3, 6. Gardemeister / Lukander + 1:03.9, 7. Martin / Park + 1:05.0, 8. Solberg / Mills + 1:09.4, =9. Loix / Smeets + 1:09.8, =9. Tuohino / Aho + 1:09.8s

Fri February 7, 2003

 Leg 1 Results, Leg 2 Starting Order

 12th, 13th & 18th for Citroen, Leg 1

 Loix with Promising Leg 1 for Hyundai

 Tommi Chasing Down Marcus' Lead

 Sweden 2003, Stage 2 Info

 Weather perfect for opening stages