This year’s Swedish Rally.
Who will be top performers?

My guesses:

Carlos Sainz – Good driver also on snow (4 times top 3 in the last 5 Swedish rallies), but Citroën is IMHO not yet a winner on snow and gravel. So Carlos is out of top 10 for this years event.

Rovenperä – Winner 2001 and second last year. I guess he could be in the top 6 in the 206 WRC.

Groenholm – Car is working as last year and Marcus seems to be fit, but what about his motivation?
When he is back on snow and closer to his native roads, he is probably in the top 3.

Petter Solberg – Let’s see what the new car is made of. Petter is fit and roads are perfect for him. In the top 3 this year?

Henning Solberg – watch out for Petter’s older brother driving an EVO! http://64.207.13.28/mysmilies/otn/shocked/bigrot.gif

Tommi Mäkinen – Tommi needs to show results. He won the Swedish Rally back in 98 and 99, second in 2000 and should be able to make a good result again.

Burns – Not a lot of results to refer to from previous events in Sweden. Car capable, but driver on snow and ice? Sorry, but I find it hard to believe that he will finish this year.

Others: Arai is driving a Subaru Production Team car in group N4.
Stig Blomqvist will be driving a Subaru entered by David Sutton Cars Ltd. (so will Martin Rowe.
Roman Kresta – could be an outsider
Loeb: not competitive, neither is car on these conditions
McRae: very competitive driver, but sorry, car will not make it through the rally
Possum Bourne : Interesting entry!


Just my 2 cents – comments? :D

STIVII

I wouldn't write off the Citroens just yet - particularly Sainz! Both McRae and Sainz have picked up the car very well - McRae will probably lead for a while then crash :eek:

Going off past performances, for the last few years, Burns has looked very likely to be the first non Scandanavian to win in Sweeden! He's often lead the rally only to go out on the last day - usually due to bad luck!

Overall, the Finnish are the ones to be beaten! I would put them in this order...
1. Rovanperra
2. Gronholm
3. Solberg
4. Burns
5. Sainz
6. Makinnen (past it!)
-. McRae (C) out after hitting a tree on SS5 :(

Hi BMWhere?!
Congrats on your new auto! Looks great! :D

STIVII

;)

Toni - In a Skoda? LOL :D
Good luck though (if its really you?) would actually be quite nice to see Skoda at the top ;)

STIVII - Cheerz M8, new car is fantastic, although a bit tricky in the snow this morning :eek:!!!

Al.

Al,

Thank you for your kind words :p

If you think back to last year, Kenneth was doing fairly well for sure, right up until his retirement on the final stage when the engine went "bang". I myself wasn't doing as well for sure and yes, it was my fault that I decided to leave the road.

Maybe this year... :rolleyes:

Henning Solberg

hmmm, wonder if he is cute ;)

After my disasterous betting on the Monte, I'm not sure what or who to bet on this time :eek:

AJ

AJ

Here's one more try ;)
Grönholm - in top three - who would bet against him?
Mäkinen - in top three - always fast here, bad luck recently
Rovanpera - in top three - Peugeots no.2 in gravel and snow
Burns - 4th to 8th, if finishes
Solberg - in top three if finishes, but I bet he does not
McRae - in top six, but will he make it to the end?
Sainz - 3rd to 5th, likely to finish
Martin - in top six, could be the surprise!
Loeb - 6th to 10th, unlikely to finish
Some additional finns into top ten: Paasonen, Pykälisto, Hirvonen,
Sohlberg

Koppa

BTT as the event getting closer :) -30 degrees now!

STIVII

Money each way on Tommi should be a good bet I reckon.

Oh! Petter is sick! :( Having a cold because of the conditions (-30 and not much heating in the car). He had a high fewer yesterday (41!), but hopefully he will recover until Thursday’s shakedown!
Let’s cross fingers.

STIVII

My money is on Marcus with Toni coming second ;) :D

Who seen the sahkedown on C4 last night? They mentioned that Hyundai can't afford to compete & may miss the Swedish rally :eek:

It's probably a load of tosh if C4 is anything to go by, can anybody back it up or deny it?

Nope, I heard the same speaking to somebody whilst in Monte Crush.

They are pretty skint by all accounts.

I've had £2 each way on Burns and Tommi.

Come on the lads :D

Bugger! :( I like the Hyundai team, they were showing massive potential after the 2001 Rally GB :rolleyes: The drivers are pretty good too. What are the chances Ford will snap them up? :cool:

Maybe we can all put in a pound each to keep them going :D

I've had £2 each way on Burns

I'd rather put my £2 in the fruit machine Chris ;) Good luck to Tommi though. A top 3 position is in reach :D

Burns showed pretty well in Sweden last year. Good chance of placing I reckon.

I only like to bet on people with long odds... 8/13 on Marcus? You could bet the house on it and still will bugger all for sure :D

Who seen the sahkedown on C4 last night? They mentioned that Hyundai can't afford to compete & may miss the Swedish rally

According to reliable sources Hyundai have even appointed a 3rd car for manufacturers points (a Finnish driver), so I suppose it's nothing in it.

STIVII

Wooooo Hooooooo, 100/1! Got to be worth a flutter for sure! :D

Put a grand on it crushy and you could pay my tab! ;)

Shakedown results:

Carlos SAINZ / Marc MARTI
Petter SOLBERG / Philip MILLS :)
Richard BURNS / Robert REID
Freddy LOIX / Sven SMEETS
Tommi MÄKINEN / Kai LINDSTÖM :)
Marcus GRÖNHOLM / Timo RAUTIANEN
Harri ROVANPERÄ / Risto PIETILAINEN
Colin MCRAE / Derek RINGER
Sébastien LOEB / Daniel ELENA
Roman KRESTA / Milos HULKA
Toni GARDEMEISTER / Paavo LUKANDER
Markko MÄRTIN / Michael PARK
Jussi VÄLIMÄKI / Tero GARDEMEISTER
Kristian SOHLBERG / Jakke HONKANEN
Juuso PYKÄLISTÖ / Esko MERTSALMI
Armin SCHWARZ / Manfred HIEMER
Janne TUOHINO / Jukka AHO
Francois DUVAL / Jean-Marc FORTIN
Tomasz KUCHAR / Maciek SZCZEPANIAK
Mikko HIRVONEN / Jarmo LEHTINEN
Didier AURIOL / Denis GIRAUDET
Andreas ERIKSSON / Patrick HENRIKSSON
Jari VIITA / Teppo LEINO
Antony WARMBOLD / Gemma PRICE

STIVII

McRae at 14/1? Tenner going on to win then.

Colin ALWAYS fast in Sweden, one of his favourite events, his motivation is up, and the Citroen should go well and last the distance.

Well they don't show the times of the Group N cars...
But if he can manage to stay on the road, keep an eye
on Patrick Richard from CANADA!!! He's one of our best
drivers.
Watch out drivers, you've got fierce competition now!!

Go Crazy Canucks!!

Keep it up guys - I've got Money on Tommi and Burnsy :D

Odds from Ladbrokes:

M Gronholm 8/13
H Rovanpera 4/1
R Burns 10/1
C Sainz 12/1
C Mcrae 14/1
P Solberg 14/1
T Makinen 14/1
M Martin 20/1
S Loeb 20/1
F Duval 40/1

Burns looks worth an each-way punt don't you think? Tommi too.

[Edited by ChrisB - 2/5/2003 8:51:25 AM]