The chill in world class rallying...


A little over a week after adding another jewel to its world crown in
Monaco, the Xsara WRC switches its attention now to its third foray into the
heart of wintry Sweden. For the second round of this year's 16-round World
Championship, Citroën will line up at the Karlstad start with its usual
crews, Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena and Carlos Sainz/Marc Marti.

Always a favourite with competitors, the Swedish Rally is run over the
ultra-fast forest tracks of the rolling Värmland countryside. For the
drivers, powering their WRC cars fitted with narrow wheels and heavily
studded snow tyres at average speeds well in excess of 100 kph is sheer joy.

A key challenge of this event is that it's the only WRC round that takes
place exclusively on snow and ice, a terrain which drivers from Europe's
more southerly climes only get to compete on once a year. Their Nordic
rivals, on the other hand, cut their teeth on it. As a consequence, the
Swedish Rally is the only remaining event that has yet to be won by anyone
but a Swede or a Finn. Indeed, the stranglehold of the event's homegrown
drivers went unbroken from 1950 until 1980. Since 1981, however, their
Finnish neighbours have profited from their annual trips across the Gulf of
Bothnia to claim thirteen of the past twenty-three Swedish Rallies to have
been organised.

Another of the event's difficulties concerns stage conditions. The most
feared scenario is a thaw which makes the roads' wintry cloak vulnerable to
the emergence of gravel and stones. In 1990, the event even had to be
cancelled because the weather was too warm! Meanwhile, even in sub-zero
temperatures, the hardness of the surface can vary significantly. The ideal
situation is sheet ice which puts competitors on an equal footing whatever
their road position. Packed snow, even hard-packed, inevitably tends to rut
with each passing car, a phenomenon that can put later runners at a
disadvantage. Alternatively, fresh powder snow limits the ability of the
studs to bite into the ice, in this case to the detriment of those who are
first on the road...

Citroën's preparation for the second outing of the season included two test
sessions in Sweden. The first took place during the third week of December
and saw Sébastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz take turns at the wheel at a base
near Arjeplog, on the southern fringe of the Arctic Circle. For the second
session, near Umea, in the third week of January, the pair was joined by
Philippe Bugalski, their work focusing on optimisation of the Xsara WRC's
set-up (springs, antiroll bars, differentials). The programme also allowed
the drivers to acquaint themselves with the latest evolution 'GA' and 'GE'
tyres that make up Michelin's range for Sweden.

All is now ready and Citroën's motivation couldn't be higher. Carlos Sainz
dreams of winning the Swedish Rally, one of the few rounds that doesn't yet
figure on his prestigious record, while Sébastien Loeb will be looking to
claim his maiden non-asphalt WRC win. It will be anything but easy, but the
Versailles-Satory team has its sights set high...

Michelin, Magneti-Marelli, Kinetic, OZ, AIS and Citroën Financement are Team
Citroën-Total's partners in the World Rally Championship.

-citroen-




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