WRC: Countdown to Rally Sweden

Rally Sweden

WRC round 1 of 13
Thursday 11 February – Sunday 14 February

It’s been a long time coming, but four months after the 2009 World Rally Championship reached its thrilling conclusion in Wales, the fuse is well and truly lit on the 2010 competition. On 11 February the WRC ignites again, with one of the most spectacular challenges of the year – the 200kph snow-fest that is Rally Sweden.

Kicking off the 13-round 2010 season, Sweden is the only winter round this year, and makes a welcome return after a year out in 2009, when Norway hosted the WRC’s annual snow and ice fixture instead.

Like in 2008, the rally is based from the central Sweden city of Karlstad. Unlike the last edition, however, much of the competitive action has been shifted north around a Service Park 85km away at Hagfors airport. Organisers took this step in an effort to guarantee good snow cover on the gravel roads of the Varmland and Dalarna regions, where the majority of the stages are based.

Fifty-seven per cent of the competitive distance has changed since 2008, although many of the new roads are familiar from previous years. With the exception of the Karlstad Super Special, only two of the previous stages remain. The rest are a mix of brand new routes and tests used in previous years when the rally went further north.

The action begins with a super special stage at Karlstad’s trotting track on Thursday evening and the test also ends Friday’s opening leg, which journeys to the rally’s most northerly point. The second day includes a short sprint stage on the edge of Hagfors and the final day is based east of the town. In total drivers tackle 21 tests covering 345.15km in a route of 1879.23km.

With six days to go before the event gets underway, weather conditions are reported to be perfect. Heavy snow has fallen on the rally route in the last few days and organisers predict the coldest event for 20 years, with temperatures forecast to plunge below -25ºC.