This year's event, which kicks off the 13-round 2010 World Rally Championship season, starts on the 11th February and is based from the central Swedish city of Karlstad. The competitive stages have been moved north around a Service Park 85km away at Hagfors airport. The 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 will be based.
Since the 2008 event, 57% of the competitive distance has changed, although many of the new roads are familiar from previous years. The Karlstad Super Special is one of two remaining stages from 2008. The rest are a mixture 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 leg 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 special stages, covering 345.15km, in a route of 1879.23km.
Who's going to win?
It's the opening round of the season, and an event which traditionally favours Scandinavian snow-driving specialists, so it's an extremely tough one to call. When you factor in five previous WRC snow winners (Loeb, Solberg, Latvala, Hirvonen and Gronholm) and three World Rally Champions (Loeb, Solberg and Gronholm) it gets even more complex.
Going on the pace they showed on the most recent rally in Wales, Hirvonen and Loeb must be the two favourites for victory - with Loeb's win on snow in Norway last season edging him slightly ahead of his Finnish rival. But with minimal changes made to their cars in the off-season, there's every reason to think the pair will start this season as closely matched as they ended last year's.
In identical machinery as their team-leaders, the factory number two drivers Dani Sordo and 2008 Sweden winner Jari-Matti Latvala are both more than capable of challenging for victory too. And at this stage in the season team orders really shouldn't come into play.
Sweden marks the start of Petter Solberg's bid for a second WRC title, and few would doubt the Norwegian's determination to succeed. Will having the same car as six time champion Loeb be enough for him to mount a serious title challenge? He hasn't had a lot of practice in the car, but snow is a surface he's right at home on.
Also in a top car - a Ford Focus RS WRC - is double champion Marcus Gronholm, the Finn tempted out of retirement to drive one of the Stobart team entries. Sweden is a rally Gronholm loves - so much so that he named his restaurant after one of its stages.
With learning the name of the game for WRC newbie Kimi Raikkonen, it's unlikely we'll see any opening round heroics from the 2007 Formula One World Champion. But you never know...
Tyres
Pirelli return to the championship's with the control tyre. The regulations dictate the use of just one pattern for the majority of WRC events, and for Rally Sweden the chosen rubber is Pirelli’s ‘Sottozero’, which runs on a normal 15-inch gravel rim.
Each 205/65R15 tyre is equipped with almost 400 7mm tungsten-tipped studs to penetrate the snow and bite into the ice beneath. Teams are not allowed to hand-carve additional cuts into the rubber in the event of heavy snow and each car can carry two spares.
Event Information
Date: February 12-14, 2010
Round: 1 of 13 FIA World Rally Championship
Based: Karlstad, Sweden
Stage surface: Snow covered gravel
Total stage distance: 345.15kms
Number of stages: 21
Longest stage: 24.63km Vargåsen (SS9/SS13)
Service Park: Hagfors
Time Zones: GMT + 1 hour
Sunrise: Karlstad 11 February 2010: 07:53
Sunset: Karlstad 11 February 2010: 16:48
Engines: The engines used in Sweden will be used again in Jordan and New Zealand.
Titles for which the rally counts
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers & Co-drivers
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers
FIA WRC Cup for Teams
FIA Production Car World Rally Championship for Drivers & Co-drivers
FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship for Drivers & Co-drivers
Timetable
Thursday 11/2
SS1 - Karlstad Super Special Stage1 - 20:00
Friday 12/2
SS2 - Likenäs1 - 08:18
SS3 - Viggen1 - 09:41
SS4 - Torntorp1 - 10:51
Service Hagfors 11:40
SS5 - Likenäs2 - 13:33
SS6 - Viggen2 - 14:56
SS7 - Torntorp2 - 16:29
Service Hagfors 17:08
SS8 - Karlstad Super Special Stage2 - 20:00
Saturday 13/2
SS9 - Vargåsen1 - 07:58
SS10 - Sågen1 - 09:46
SS11 - Fredriksberg1 - 10:42
SS12 - Hagfors Sprint1 - 11:58
Service Hagfors - 12:38
SS13 - Vargåsen2 - 13:41
SS14 - Sågen2 - 15:34
SS15 - Fredriksberg2 - 16:30
SS16 - Hagfors Sprint2 - 17:46
Service Hagfors 18:16
Sunday 14/2
SS17 - Rämmen1 - 07:52
SS18 - Värmullsåsen1 - 08:28
Service Hagfors - 09:21
SS19 - Lesjöfors - 10:51
SS20 - Rämmen2 - 11:23
SS21 - Värmullsåsen2 - 12:52
Source: RallyBuzz
Since the 2008 event, 57% of the competitive distance has changed, although many of the new roads are familiar from previous years. The Karlstad Super Special is one of two remaining stages from 2008. The rest are a mixture 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 leg 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 special stages, covering 345.15km, in a route of 1879.23km.
Who's going to win?
It's the opening round of the season, and an event which traditionally favours Scandinavian snow-driving specialists, so it's an extremely tough one to call. When you factor in five previous WRC snow winners (Loeb, Solberg, Latvala, Hirvonen and Gronholm) and three World Rally Champions (Loeb, Solberg and Gronholm) it gets even more complex.
Going on the pace they showed on the most recent rally in Wales, Hirvonen and Loeb must be the two favourites for victory - with Loeb's win on snow in Norway last season edging him slightly ahead of his Finnish rival. But with minimal changes made to their cars in the off-season, there's every reason to think the pair will start this season as closely matched as they ended last year's.
In identical machinery as their team-leaders, the factory number two drivers Dani Sordo and 2008 Sweden winner Jari-Matti Latvala are both more than capable of challenging for victory too. And at this stage in the season team orders really shouldn't come into play.
Sweden marks the start of Petter Solberg's bid for a second WRC title, and few would doubt the Norwegian's determination to succeed. Will having the same car as six time champion Loeb be enough for him to mount a serious title challenge? He hasn't had a lot of practice in the car, but snow is a surface he's right at home on.
Also in a top car - a Ford Focus RS WRC - is double champion Marcus Gronholm, the Finn tempted out of retirement to drive one of the Stobart team entries. Sweden is a rally Gronholm loves - so much so that he named his restaurant after one of its stages.
With learning the name of the game for WRC newbie Kimi Raikkonen, it's unlikely we'll see any opening round heroics from the 2007 Formula One World Champion. But you never know...
Tyres
Pirelli return to the championship's with the control tyre. The regulations dictate the use of just one pattern for the majority of WRC events, and for Rally Sweden the chosen rubber is Pirelli’s ‘Sottozero’, which runs on a normal 15-inch gravel rim.
Each 205/65R15 tyre is equipped with almost 400 7mm tungsten-tipped studs to penetrate the snow and bite into the ice beneath. Teams are not allowed to hand-carve additional cuts into the rubber in the event of heavy snow and each car can carry two spares.
Event Information
Date: February 12-14, 2010
Round: 1 of 13 FIA World Rally Championship
Based: Karlstad, Sweden
Stage surface: Snow covered gravel
Total stage distance: 345.15kms
Number of stages: 21
Longest stage: 24.63km Vargåsen (SS9/SS13)
Service Park: Hagfors
Time Zones: GMT + 1 hour
Sunrise: Karlstad 11 February 2010: 07:53
Sunset: Karlstad 11 February 2010: 16:48
Engines: The engines used in Sweden will be used again in Jordan and New Zealand.
Titles for which the rally counts
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers & Co-drivers
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers
FIA WRC Cup for Teams
FIA Production Car World Rally Championship for Drivers & Co-drivers
FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship for Drivers & Co-drivers
Timetable
Thursday 11/2
SS1 - Karlstad Super Special Stage1 - 20:00
Friday 12/2
SS2 - Likenäs1 - 08:18
SS3 - Viggen1 - 09:41
SS4 - Torntorp1 - 10:51
Service Hagfors 11:40
SS5 - Likenäs2 - 13:33
SS6 - Viggen2 - 14:56
SS7 - Torntorp2 - 16:29
Service Hagfors 17:08
SS8 - Karlstad Super Special Stage2 - 20:00
Saturday 13/2
SS9 - Vargåsen1 - 07:58
SS10 - Sågen1 - 09:46
SS11 - Fredriksberg1 - 10:42
SS12 - Hagfors Sprint1 - 11:58
Service Hagfors - 12:38
SS13 - Vargåsen2 - 13:41
SS14 - Sågen2 - 15:34
SS15 - Fredriksberg2 - 16:30
SS16 - Hagfors Sprint2 - 17:46
Service Hagfors 18:16
Sunday 14/2
SS17 - Rämmen1 - 07:52
SS18 - Värmullsåsen1 - 08:28
Service Hagfors - 09:21
SS19 - Lesjöfors - 10:51
SS20 - Rämmen2 - 11:23
SS21 - Värmullsåsen2 - 12:52
Source: RallyBuzz
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