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Update after day 1 :
Rovanpera is less than a second adrift of the rally lead
Peugeot stars Marcus Gronholm and Harri Rovanpera have taken a solid grip on the Swedish Rally after Friday's opening leg, the Finnish duo swapping the lead throughout the day and ending the day just 0.9 seconds apart at the head of the field.
The Peugeots have performed faultlessly throughout the day and are seemingly unchallenged. "There's nothing I can do about them," admitted Ford's Colin McRae, who is best of the rest.
McRae set fastest time on the final stage of the day's five tests. He is, however, 40.6 seconds adrift of the leaders and will need to produce a stunning drive over the next two days if he's to end Peugeot's recent domination of this rally, and the Scandinavians' lifelong stranglehold on a rally that they simply refuse to let outsiders win.
Conditions were expected to be near perfect, with a fresh layer of snow on top of hard packed ice. However, a surprise snowfall before the first stage caught out several drivers who floundered on the wrong tyres and are now having to fight back from lowly places. Running first on the road was no advantage for series leader Tommi Makinen and it seemed he would have the same problem tomorrow when the running order is reversed.
But the Finn stuffed his Subaru into a snow bank, damaged the cooling system, and was forced to retire soon afterwards.
"We cut a corner a bit too much and hit one of the big fresh snow banks," said Makinen. "We didn't slow down at all and didn't think anything was wrong but snow must have got into the radiator and blocked the cooling system. The engine started to lose power so we stopped to look but there was nothing we could do about it. It was too late. We have been unlucky with our road position and the change of weather at the start, the snow was just so deep and we lost a lot of time."
The mid-afternoon action saw several drivers trying hard to throw away their chances. Thomas Radstrom and Sebastien Loeb both hurled their Citroens off the road, and it must have been especially galling for Radstrom who then set fastest time on the next stage to show what he might have been capable of.
Mitsubishi's Francois Delecour has also spent 15 minutes in a ditch and World Champion Richard Burns saw a comfortable third place become a long shot for even a points finish when he too opted for the scenery rather than the road.
Tomorrow holds six stages on which to do battle, the first three having been used already today so road position might not be so crucial in the morning.
SOURCE : autosport.com !
Overall times after SS5:
1. Marcus Gronholm Peugeot 206 WRC 1hour 06mins 11.9secs
2. Harri Rovanpera Peugeot 206 WRC +00mins 00.9secs
3. Colin McRae Ford Focus RS WRC 02 +00mins 41.5secs
4. Jani Paasonen Mitsubishi Lancer Evo WRC +00mins 53.6secs
5. Freddie Loix Hyundai Accent WRC +01mins 01.5secs
6. Petter Solberg Subaru Impreza WRC 2001 +01mins 02.7secs
7. Juha Kankkunen Hyundai Accent WRC +01mins 09.1secs
8. Carlos Sainz Ford Focus RS WRC 02 +01mins 09.2secs
9. Janne Tuohino Ford Focus RS WRC 01 +01mins 16.3secs
10. Sebastian Lindholm Peugeot 206 WRC +01mins 20.5secs
11. Alister McRae Mitsubishi Lancer Evo WRC +01mins 20.8secs
12. Kenneth Eriksson Skoda Octavia WRC Evo 2 +01mins 32.5secs
13. Richard Burns Peugeot 206 WRC +01mins 43.9secs
14. Juuso Pykalisto Toyota Corolla WRC +01mins 53.6secs
15. Toni Gardemeister Skoda Octavia WRC Evo 2 +01mins 54.1secs
16. Tomasz Kuchar Toyota Corolla WRC +01mins 58.2secs
17. Henning Solberg Toyota Corolla WRC +02mins 01.3secs
18. Stig Blomqvist Skoda Octavia WRC 02 +02mins 32.5secs
19. Francois Duval Ford Focus RS WRC 01 +02mins 41.6secs
20. Gilles Panizzi Peugeot 206 WRC +03mins 28.5secs
21. Jussi Valimaki Toyota Corolla WRC +03mins 46.7secs
22. Stig-Olov Walfridson Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI +04mins 05.6secs
23. Kristian Kolberg Hyundai Accent WRC +04mins 12.4secs
24. Daniel Carlsson Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII +04mins 30.5secs
25. Johan Kressner Subaru Impreza 555 +04mins 33.3secs
26. Juha Kangas Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI +04mins 34.2secs
27. Kenneth Backlund Mitsubishi Lancer Evo +04mins 47.6secs
28. Kristian Sohlberg Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI +05mins 22.4secs
29. Sebastien Loeb Citreon Xsara WRC +05mins 26.1secs
30. Oscar Svedlund Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI +05mins 33.3secs
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