Swedish Rally 2000
Friday 11 February
COMMUNIQUE 2

MITSUBISHI MAKES EXCELLENT START TO SWEDISH RALLY

The International Swedish Rally got underway in earnest this morning, however unseasonably mild weather in the Varmland district of Sweden has resulted in a lack of snow on the fast and flowing stages. Marcus Gronholm (Peugeot) has led today’s competition for all but one stage, however Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart driver Tommi Makinen is hot on his heels and poised for attack in third position and, more importantly, only 18 seconds adrift of his rival.

Although many of the stages are covered in ice, patches of gravel could have been a considerable threat to the life of the studded tyres. Mitsubishi’s partner, Michelin, however had all angles covered and their preparation work has kept the Japanese manufacturer’s Swedish aspirations on track. In fact, the conditions have actually been less tough for the tyres and have also done nothing to diminish the spectacle, with thousands of keen spectators thronging to the stages.

"At the moment it is a very good battle", said Makinen. "I am quite happy, but there has been a strange noise with the gearbox so the team will change everything for us this evening. We went off the road in stage 3 after the famous big jump 20 kilometres from the start - it was a sixth gear right hand corner, but we were lucky not to hit anything. We may not have had the best tyre choice in two of the stages, but we are still pushing hard and will try to go faster, but Marcus is quick and it is not very easy. My biggest concern has been with some people in the stages. Twice we have had to go off line to avoid a cameraman - I don’t think they appreciate how much we turn in for the corners and I am obviously concerned for their safety.

Team-mate Freddy Loix, co-driven by Sven Smeets, has only competed in Sweden once before and is learning the limits of the Carisma GT and Michelin tyres on the uncharacteristic combination of ice and gravel. The Belgians currently hold 11th position, but are poised to overhaul former World Champion Didier Auriol in the SEAT Cordoba.

"I have been driving quite well today, pushing hard in places, but I misjudged stage three a bit by slowing up to preserve the tyres on the gravel sections. This obviously lost me time, but it was a good learning experience. Tomorrow we will continue to try hard and hopefully make good progress, but it is not easy", Loix stated.

There have been no significant casualties among the World Championship campaigners over today’s 127.29 competitive kilometres. Making its debut outing in the World Rally Car category, Hyundai still has both Accents in the running, however Swedish expert, Kenneth Eriksson suffered with a lack of turbo boost early this morning, slowing his progress. All six competing manufacturers have both its registered cars in contention, however tomorrow’s leg could see the tables turn when the crews face the daunting Jutbo stage, a 45.65 kilometre classic test.

As usual, Mitsubishi drivers are at the top of the leaderboard in Group N and hold the top five positions. However, Finland’s Juuso Pykalisto is surprised to be ahead of Swedish experts Stig-Olov Walfridsson and Kenneth Backlund, with Monte Carlo category winner Manfred Stohl also in contention.

"I have not done any rallying for five months and some of these stages are new for me, so I didn’t expect to be doing so well", Pykalysto commented.

"We had a few problems getting the handling right at first, but the car has been much better since we made a few adjustments after stage four", added Walfridsson. "Pykalisto is going very well, but we will try to beat him, of course, and I am sure we will have a big battle with Kenneth Backlund as well".

Beating the Nordic drivers on a snow rally is next to impossible and Austrian Stohl will be delighted if he can stay ahead of his World Championship rival - another Mitsubishi driver - Gianluigi Galli.

Leg two of the International Swedish Rally starts from Karlstad at 06:15 hrs (GMT+1) for a further six special stages which take the crews to the northeast of the host town and up to Borlange.

OVERALL CLASSIFICATION AFTER LEG 1