The 53rd Uddeholm Swedish Rally takes place this weekend, the second round out of sixteen in the 2004
FIA World Rally Championship.
Sweden will also play host to the first round in the 2004 FIA Production Car WRC.
The only true winter rally in the WRC - while it's not uncommon for crews to compete in temperatures as low as -30°C, full snow conditions on the event's 19 stages are by no means guaranteed.
In recent years mild conditions have presented teams with a challenging mixture of road surfaces, with everything from hard-packed snow, ice and sections of frozen gravel. As a result, this year's event is moving further north in an attempt to find more consistent snow conditions.
The event is based in the university town of Karlstad.
Special notes:
The Swedish rally is a specialist event, which favours drivers with experience of the unique conditions.
Totally unlike any others in the WRC, the snow covered Swedish stages have to be approached in a different way to the more typical WRC tarmac or gravel stages. Local knowledge counts for a lot - and it's telling that since the rally was first run in 1950, it has been won exclusively by Swedes and Finns.
Experts at 'leaning' their cars against snow banks to guide them round corners, previous winners of this demanding event have been highly skilled at driving on studded tyres at very high speeds. Last year, with an average speed of 118kph, the Swedish rally was the second-fastest of the season. Only Finland, with an average of 122kph was quicker.
FIA World Rally Championship news:
Following the Rallye Monte Carlo,
Sebastien Loeb leads the drivers' championship, while Ford have taken the early lead in the constructors' - courtesy of their two-three finish with
Markko Martin and
Francois Duval.
News from the Manufacturers' teams:
![Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm and co-driver Timo Rautiainen celebrate victory on the Swedish Rally [2003]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/49264.jpg )
