It’s been a generally quiet day in Sweden, with all of the top works cars still in the rally. The conditions have been variable, with lots of patches of bare gravel to test the drivers. Sebastien Loeb, who was worried that heavy snow could hamper his chances since he was running first as current championship leader, found that the conditions suited him, as the snow/ice/gravel combination got heavily rutted after a few runs. He got to run on relatively clean and smooth roads, and he currently holds second place.

Markko Martin holds first place at the moment, with a cushion of 23 seconds over Loeb. He’s been pleased with the Focus so far, and he made his moves on the two long (50+ kilometer) stages in the middle of the day. Reigning champion Petter Solberg is happily in third, having put his foot down during the long stages as well, moving up from an earlier seventh place. He’s only a second behind Loeb, so he’s in the thick of the battle of the top podium spot.

Carlos Sainz is currently in fourth, another 20 seconds adrift of Loeb and Solberg, followed closely by Ford’s Janne Tuohino, who was nominated as Ford’s second points car ahead of Francios Duval. Marcus Gronholm has slipped into sixth place, after some power steering issues in the new 307. Gronholm started well, winning SS1, but he ran into problems during the long stages and lost over a minute to the leaders. Subaru’s Mikko Hirvonen and Ford’s Francois Duval round out the points positions.

Expect an exciting day tomorrow, with the leaders so close to one another at the moment. This could turn into a race of attrition, which favor Seb Loeb in the Xsara, which has been supremely reliable.

Posted on 6 February 2004