The 54th Uddeholm Swedish Rally takes place this coming weekend - the second round out of sixteen in the 2005
FIA World Rally Championship.
Sweden will also play host to the first round in the 2005 FIA Production Car WRC.
Following the start in Karlstad on Thursday evening, the three-day rally gets underway on Friday morning at 0735hrs when crews travel to the start of SS1.
Including 20 stages and a competitive distance of 359.87km, the event will conclude when the winning car crosses the finish ramp back in Karlstad at 1504hrs on Sunday.
The longest stage of the event is the 26.40km test at Lejen, while the shortest is the 1.86km Hagfors Sprint Super Special, which is used twice.
Special notes:
The Swedish Rally is the only pure winter rally in the series, but with drivers reaching speeds of up to 200kph, it is also one of the fastest.
Cars run on narrow [135mm] snow tyres fitted with tungsten carbide tipped studs that bite through the icy surface and provide maximum traction. A key element of driving in wintry conditions is being able to use the snow banks, which line the side of the road. Drivers can 'lean' their cars against these on the exits of fast corners to help guide them round at maximum speed.
While it's not uncommon for temperatures to plummet to nearly minus 30°C during the event, full snow conditions on the event's 20 stages are not guaranteed. Mild conditions in recent years mean drivers have faced a challenging mix of road surfaces, including hard-packed snow, ice and gravel.
Last year's event moved further north in an attempt to find more consistent snow conditions.
Like Monte Carlo, the Swedish rally is a specialist event, which favours drivers with experience of the frozen snow-covered roads. Until recently, local experts dominated the event, and Scandinavians boasted a 52-year unbeaten winning record. Things changed last year, however, when Frenchman
Sebastien Loeb upset the record books by taking the win.
FIA World Rally Championship news:
With only one of the 16 rounds having taken place thus far, the championship standings are currently pretty meaningless. However, following his victory on the Monte, Sebastien Loeb has got his title defence off to the best possible start. The Frenchman leads
Toni Gardemeister, by two points in the drivers' championship.
