Preview - Uddeholm Swedish Rally.

The Uddeholm Swedish Rally takes place this weekend, the second round out of 14 in the 2003 FIA World Rally Championship. Sweden will also play host to the first of seven rounds in the 2003 FIA Production Car Championship.

The Swedish Rally is the only winter event in the FIA WRC and it is also the only one of two World rallies in which studded tyres are permitted, though the tyre and stud rules are particular to this event.

New this year...

The single Service Area will this year be at Hagfors Airport instead of being in the town itself, and will operate also for the Shakedown. There will furthermore be a new 'sprint' stage at Hagfors. Of the 12 different stage venues, eight are the same as last year.

News from the Manufacturers' teams:

Citroen Sport:

Citroen had a dream 1-2-3 result on the Monte Carlo Rally and this weekend the French manufacturer will again field three cars, namely for Colin McRae (#17), Sebastien Loeb (#18) and Carlos Sainz (#19).

Sainz has entered this event eight times, finishing six times and always on the podium. He said: "It may seem strange for a Latin driver to say it, but I really like this event. Even if I have still not driven the Xsara a lot, I feel we can do well on this event!"

The team has had two test sessions during the winter weeks near Umea, in the north of Sweden to specially prepare for the snow.

Ford Rallye Sport:

Ford will again have three nominated drivers, Markko Martin (#4), Francois Duval (#5) and Mikko Hirvonen (#6). Hirvonen has been given the freedom to attack on this event, as he also will be given in Finland and Britain.

Meanwhile Ford's engineers are undertaking tests on the 2003 version car in Belgium and Germany, both static and endurance work, in private, ready for homologation in time for the debut in New Zealand in April.

Peugeot Sport:

The Peugeot team has won the Swedish Rally for the last three years. After a rally that was mechanically trouble-free in Monte Carlo there will be no technical novelties for Sweden. Harri Rovanpera will be in the #3 car, linking up with regular drivers - Marcus Gronholm (#1) and Richards Burns (#2).

Hyundai World Rally Team:

Hyundai will have a third car for the Swedish Rally, Finnish driver Jussi Valimaki (#12) linking up with Armin Schwarz (#10) and Freddy Loix (#11).

Valimaki noted: "I am very excited. We took part on the Arctic Rally as a test run when we were leading for the first two stages, but unfortunately we also had a crash with a reindeer and then hit a rock in the road."

Skoda Motorsport:

Skoda stick with two cars for Sweden, Didier Auriol (#14) and Toni Gardemeister (#15), driving the two works Octavia WRC's.

Auriol has driven this event with six different types of car before and is now hopeful for a good result with a seventh. He commented: "Although we won't have had time to make much testing, the set-up will initially be a gamble, but being a faster rally it should be good for the Octavia!"

Subaru World Rally Team:

Subaru had a dismal Monte Carlo Rally, both Petter Solberg (#7) and Tommi Makinen (#8) retiring before the finish, both though have high hopes for Sweden.

Norwegian driver Solberg is really looking forward to his 'home' event. "I gather that 230 members of our fan club will be coming to the Swedish Rally to cheer us on," said Solberg, who has fond memories even now of the days when he went to Sweden to watch the rally stars in action. "We were so keen in those days, we used to save money by sleeping in our cars, whatever the temperature outside!"

News from the Production Car WRC teams:

This year drivers must specify in advance which six of the seven (last year eight) qualifying events they will enter. Of the 26 registered drivers, all except seven plan to drive on this event.

One new rule for 2003 is that the FIA decides in advance how many tyres drivers in PCWRC will be able to use. For this event the limit will be 30. This rule does not apply to non-championship Group N drivers.

Reigning PCWRC Champion Karamjit Singh starts the season with an Evo VI form of Proton: the latest Evo VII version will be available from mid season onwards.

Once again many new countries are represented in FIA World Championship rallying through the PCWRC, notably New Zealand (Possum Bourne), Canada (Patrick Richard), Mexico (Ricardo Trivino) and Romania (Constantin Aur).

Bourne commented: "We are so excited about entering the PCWRC. I have been waiting very many years for the chance to contest a real World series. This is only possible because of the limit of events we can enter. I have only once (in 1987) had the chance to rally in Europe before. I had forgotten how cold it is!"

And in addition to the teams seen preparing cars on last year's series there is a new company, CALM from Spain, who are running four entries in the 2003 PCWRC.

Only one driver has confirmed he is unable to start, Stanislav Chovanec from Czech Republic.

Other top runners...

The leading non-works entry is Janne Tuohino, eventual winner of the Arctic Rally.

The Swedish Rally will also be the first time out for former Hyundai works driver Tomasz Kuchar, as well as the first time a Mitsubishi World Rally Car will appear this season - driven by former PCWRC challenger, Kristian Sohlberg.

Roman Kresta - tenth on the Monte Carlo on his debut outing in a Peugeot - will enter his first winter rally this weekend too.

Special facts...

Interesting amateur entries include reigning Speedway World Champion Tony Rickardsson. "Please do not expect too much from me," commented the Speedway ace, "it is my first ever rally. I just hope I won't be last by too big a margin."

How far away can you get from what you are accustomed? Various drivers better known as circuit racers are competing including Matthias Ekstrom and Dany Snobeck, while Herve Knapick is best known in rallycross. Le Mans winner Stanley Dickens entered but has had to withdraw.

Curiosity of the event...

None of the current top Swedish drivers - Kenneth Eriksson, Thomas Radstrom and current national champion Mats Jonsson - are taking part.

The most successful Swedish driver is Stig Blomqvist [11 World rally victories] and he will start in the PCWRC category while his long time rival Bjorn Waldegard [10 World Rally wins] will again drive the course-opening 'zero' car.

Hopes that the Monte Carlo Rally sensation Daniel Carlsson - who had entered in a Corolla WRC - would start have been dashed as Suzuki test schedules do not permit his attendance, so the most competitive Swedish driver is expected to be the non-championship Andreas Eriksson in a Ford Focus.

There are many competitive non-championship Group N Swedish drivers on the event as usual.

Climatic prospects...

The organisers are confident of good rallying conditions. A recent continued spell of cold weather should ensure a hard base to the special stages, while in the week before the rally there was snow on the tracks. It is expected to remain cold (maybe around -20 degrees Celcius) in the Hagfors region although there has not been much snow in Karlstad itself.