Swedish Rally Preview
The only true winter rally in the World Championship, the Swedish should be the preserve of north European snow specialists with an instinctive feel for driving on studded tyres at high speed. The more variable climatic conditions of recent years have, however, often produced a good deal of gravel as well as ice. Despite the most slippery surfaces, it is one of the fastest of the top-line rallies.
Swedish drivers retained a phenomenal unbeaten record on their home event until 1981 and, even now, it has been won exclusively by Swedes and Finns. The closest challengers have been Colin McRae, Michele Mouton and Carlos Sainz, who have finished second.
The rally is based in Karlstad in central Sweden, in the province of Vaermland. It is one of the most compact of the major rallies in spite of the fact that it ventures further north this year in an effort to find more consistent snow conditions. Temperatures can drop to -30 degrees Celsius and stages have been run on frozen lakes.
Traction is normally vital in such slippery conditions and the Swedish provided the first victory on a World Championship rally for a four-wheel-drive car, Hannu Mikkola taking the 1981 event in an Audi Quattro.
Sweden's Stig Blomqvist is the most successful driver in the rally's history, with seven wins. The 2002 running produced the first of Champions Peugeot's clean sweeps with eventual title winner Marcus Gronholm beating 2001 winner Harri Rovanpera
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The rally is again based in Karlstadt and centred on Hagfors, the home of title sponsor, Uddeholm, a large local manufacturer of tool steel and tooling.
