[Werner333]

Leg two of the Swedish Rally saw Hyundai crew Freddy Loix/Sven Smeets end the day in an outstanding fourth positon overall, closely followed by Juha Kankkunen/Juha Repo in ninth, and Armin Schwarz/Manfred Hiemer in 22nd.

The day's stages saw no overnight snow as temperatures warmed hovering around 4ºC, and while there was a steady drizzle of precipitation, the thawing process had obviously begun resulting in even more ice and surface water – a contrast to yesterday's conditions. The first three stages were also repeats of yesterday's stages with very rutted surfaces and a quantity of gravel to contend with.

Continuing their style from the opening leg, Hyundai duo Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets exceeded their expectations and drove solidly and consistently enough to hold position on the leaderboard after augmenting it to fourth on the opening 40.51km Granberget stage of the day.

“I am honestly exhausted, but my ankle is good and I have no pain,” said a tired but pleased Loix. “It is my thigh which is feeling very heavy and because of that it's difficult to brake smoothly. I am braking much too heavily as I am losing a bit of feeling in my leg and I have to keep telling myself to brake more softly. The stages that we ran for a second time were very difficult for me and for the repeated stages tomorrow the suspension will need to be a bit stiffer. I am looking forward to the two fresh stages though – they are easier for me. Now I just need a good night sleep and I'm ready to go again!”

Commenting on Freddy's progress, Team Doctor Paul Trafford said, “I think we can say that Freddy's performance is a testament to both his physical fitness and mental strength. To be able to overcome an injury that would usually require a number of weeks out of action is quite extraordinary and to be able to perform at such a high level even with a splint on his ankle is outstanding.”

The Finnish pair Juha Kankkunen and Juha Repo had a few problems early in the day but still dropped only two places and managed to hold onto that position for the duration of the day. “We lost diff pressure on the first stage and we still had a few concerns during stages seven and eight,” said co-driver Repo. “The last set of stages were slightly better but the main concern was that Juha [Kankkunen] lost the rhythm he had yesterday. Considering the problems we had we are quite pleased to be in ninth. A lot of people are pushing really hard now so we will try and get our rhythm back tomorrow and see what we can do.”

Teammates Armin Schwarz and Manfred Hiemer found it difficult to set competitive times owing to the car feeling uneasy. “I lost my confidence as the car was feeling very nervous and as a result quite difficult to drive. We have changed the front differential as well as the shocks now – we'll see for tomorrow but it really depends on whether I can get some confidence back.”

Bron: http://www.rally-live.com