Marcus Aims For Strong Swedish Finish





Peugeot driver Marcus Gronholm has ended leg two of the Swedish Rally in
second place, just 40 seconds behind the leader. His team mate Freddy Loix
was forced to retire from a points-scoring position with engine problems on
the penultimate stage.

Marcus charged into the lead of the Swedish Rally at the start yesterday,
but later dropped a minute with power steering problems. He began this
morning in sixth, but a string of consecutive fastest times soon promoted
him to third overall. He moved up to second on SS11, and is now in a strong
position to take advantage of any opportunities that come his way.

In contrast to the relatively mild conditions yesterday, today saw typically
cold Swedish Rally weather. A heavy overnight snowfall meant that the stages
were free of slush and gravel, allowing the spiked snow tyres to work to
maximum effect. An action-packed and dramatic day saw the crews cover eight
special stages, with many top drivers hitting problems.

Marcus's Peugeot 307 WRC was a paragon of reliability today, enabling him
return to parc ferme in Karlstad in a solid second place. The Finn enjoyed
today's snowy stages, despite their slippery nature forcing him to spend
more time sideways than he would have liked. Marcus had a big spin on the
penultimate stage that cost him 14 seconds and also damaged the front of the
car. This meant that he had to complete the final superspecial stage with no
lights.

"The spin was just a stupid mistake, but it caused us a bit of a problem,"
he said. "It was not so easy to drive without lights! We're still in the
race though, and we're going to be pushing hard again tomorrow, like we have
been all day today. I think the gap to the front is too big to catch, but
you never know in rallying. I'm certainly not giving up!"

Freddy lost time after going off the road during this morning's tricky
conditions, and he was also affected by an engine misfire under braking. The
Belgian persevered as best as he could, but had to retire when his engine
stopped on the penultimate stage.

Two 2003 customer specification Peugeot 206 WRCs run by Bozian Racing also
end the day in points-scoring positions. Henning Solberg is sixth and Daniel
Carlsson is seventh, despite some rear shock absorber problems in the
morning..

Tomorrow's final leg of the Swedish Rally sees the crews complete six
decisive stages, totalling 96.6 competitive kilometres. With more snow and
cold weather forecast overnight, it should be a classic end to a classic
Swedish Rally.

-peugeot-


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