Swedish Rally 1998

The only real winter rally in the WRC calendar was this year driven in proper winter conditions. There was snow but not excessively and the temperatures hovered around the freezing point.

Swedish Rally has never been won by a driver from any other country than Sweden or Finland, and  indeed it was a Swede who dominated the first day of the race. Thomas Radstrom, equipped with a factory-backed Toyota Corolla, won six of the day's eight stages. This wasn't the first time Radstrom showed good speed and he may well be the next driver to emerge to the WRC from Sweden.

The only one who could keep up with Radstrom on the first day was Tommi Makinen of Mitsubishi who, like Radstrom, had an advantage of not being one of the first cars on the road. The melting fresh snow on the road slowed down the first starters who were Carlos Sainz, Juha Kankkunen and Colin McRae. Sainz, a master of all surfaces, was third, competing hard with Marcus Gronholm, a Finn driving remarkably fast with the older Toyota Celica. The Toyotas used right from the start Michelin's new asymmetrically cut studded tire.

Subaru's Colin McRae was 5th, complaining lack of power. Kenneth Eriksson, 8th after the first leg, had the same problem. This was Kenneth's last race for Subaru as he has signed to drive for Hyundai in WRC and the Asia-Pacific series. He also has a critical role in developing Hyundai's upcoming World Rally Car.

On the second day the snow continued to melt so the roads became very slushy and there was even some gravel showing through which wore the tire studs quickly. Radstrom continued his strong performance, although being now the first one on the road slowed him down a bit. But, on the 47 kilometer long SS12 he made an error coming too fast to a corner. He went off damaging the radiator and was out of the rally. On the same stage Colin McRae retired with electrical problems and both Sainz and Bruno Thiry spinned, being able to continue, though.

Makinen / Mannisenmaki (Photo by Mitsubishi Ralliart)

With Radstrom out, Tommi Makinen was now comfortably in the lead. Juha Kankkunen had found some speed and was second (1:23 behind) after the second day. Mitsubishi and Ford now also used the new tire by Michelin which seemed to be working well. Sainz was third 15 secs behind Kankkunen and 4th Kenneth Eriksson. Didier Auriol who had had some problems on the first day was 5th, followed by Marcus Gronholm, not able to defend his position against the newer cars with the large Celica.

Tommi Makinen had no problems in keeping the others behind him during the final five special stages on the third day. Makinen, still recovering from the persistent flu, was obviously very happy with the result.  Carlos Sainz passed Juha Kankkunen on SS17 and took the second place with a margin of  7 seconds, 51 secs behind Makinen. Sainz said didn't like the conditions but nevertheless he is the fastest non-Nordic driver on the snow at the moment. Kankkunen was a bit disappointed with the third position; he said he just couldn't go any faster on the last day.

4th was Kenneth Eriksson, two and a half minutes behind the winner and struggling with his gearbox on the last day. Marcus Gronholm finished 5th (3.29 behind Makinen), beating Auriol who lost time with electrical problems. 7th was Uwe Nittel (Mitsubishi), 8th Bruno Thiry (Ford) and 9th Piero Liatti (Subaru); all drivers with relatively little experience on snow. Richard  Burns of Mitsubishi was incredibly fast in his first Swedish Rally, he even won three stages, but he finished 15th due to his accident on the first day.

Group N was won by Stig Olof Walfridson (Mitsu Lancer) anf F2 by Jonas Jonasson (Seat), both Swedish drivers.

Sainz / Moya (Photo by TTE)