To know all discussions behind FIA’s decision is almost impossible for anyone not being right in the center of them. But first, let’s think about what global promotion and broadcasting means for the championship. We probably all know that rallying is an expensive sport. To be a runner, skier or swimmer on world level you need good shoes, clothes, some staff around you and a lot of travelling. I’m not an expert but you all get the point that in rallying you need to bring a car worth at least €500.000 with you, a whole school-class of mechanics, coordinators etc. with you and just the entry fee for a rally may cost you more than the swimmer needs to spend on gear in a year.

So, I spent a few years working with Daniel Carlsson’s bid in the WRC  and another year working with promotion at Rally Sweden, and I can tell you that in both organisations we hadn’t been worth many pennies in our discussions with sponsors without the global coverage. With Carlsson, we used statistics from a global market research company that provided various measures as well as an exact value in euros of the TV exposure from Rally Sweden 2006, where Daniel ended up on the podium. And at Rally Sweden, we could point at exactly how popular the sport were in Sweden (which is far more popular than most Swedes would guess!), the hundreds of millions of people the WRC reaches worldwide during a year, etc. And I can tell you, despite having very strong figures on our side, we still had a hell selling our stuff because the sport is just extremely expensive. To sell exposure (that’s exactly what we do when talking to sponsors), a thing you can never taste or even feel in your hand, with bids that must start at over €10.000 to even be interesting, is extremely difficult. At least in Sweden, but I have a strong feeling the situation is very much the same in most countries and for most drivers, rallies, etc.

That was how the situation was. Now, we don’t have the global promotion or broadcasting. I can’t say FIA screwed it up because I don’t know what happened. But in my opinion, FIA has two major responsibilities above all others regarding the World Rally Championship. Those are: 1) To keep sporting on a good level with regulations, etc. 2) To make sure there is a connection and co-branding between the organisers in the championship, mostly by arranging global promotion and broadcasting. So, now I can say it: FIA screwed it up.

No matter whose fault it was this means that the strong arguments, that was all our strong selling points, are gone. Of course organisers and drivers can refer to TV-coverage arranged by the local organiser. But if I’m a driver and want to do Rally Finland. What shall I tell my sponsors? “Uhm, I hope the event will be covered world-wide”? Or “Uhm, I hope the event will be covered in [put your home country here]“? Or “Uhm, I hope the event will be covered in Finland”? Or the truth: “Uhm, I have no clue if the event will be covered at all”?

That’s the team/drivers perspective. And what about the organisers. They need to start looking for production partners. That’s probably not a big deal, there are plenty of them. But what quality can they deliver? And are they all capable of handling the enormous logistical problem covering a WRC event is? And still the real problem for the organisers are another one. That they need to find buyers of the production, to distribute it to the world and cover the expenses. I’m no expert in this, but I guess that wont be one buyer. They need to call all possible TV networks and channels and negotiate with them. Oh my, I’m so happy I’m not reponsible for that.

Now, let’s assume the organisers are those superheros they probably are, and able to solve all this. Then we still have the problem of problems left. The problem that FIA created yesterday, when doing their announcement. It’s the fact that they show everyone that they are willing to really do the thing that most people probably feared but thought were totally impossible. To let all the championship sponsors, manufacturers, team sponsors, drivers’ sponsors and everyone else that are spending their money on the World Rally Championship down. The one single value that makes the WRC exist is the promotional value, where speed meets skills that meets rough circumstances and mixes up into action and adrenaline enough to glue people in front of their TVs, computers, magazines and phones just to follow it. No investor cares about speed, skills, circumstances, action or adrenaline after all. They care about the money. And no exposure, no money. At least not any money in, just a hell lot of money out.

All other problems can be solved. By organisers arranging their own stuff. Maybe by FIA making a last minute deal. Etc. But the big problem is a mistake that can’t be undone. Who wants (or dares?) to invest in a championship where the main organiser has proved to be ready to devaluate all value in the product for a year or so? I wouldn’t be.

No, in my opinion the announcement is a total mental breakdown by the FIA indicating that they are totally unable to handle the World Rally Championship.

Background information:

Pressrelease by the FIA, 3rd of February 2012

Autosport: WRC event organisers told to finalise their own TV deals after Eurosport talks break down

FIA says no promoter deal in place for WRC

Pressrelease by the FIA, 8th of January 2012

With that said, I’m of course following Rally Sweden this weekend. I won’t blog about it – but I’ll try to post interesting stuff on Twitter when things happen…

Follow @maxattackblog on Twitter here:
http://www.twitter.com/maxattackblog

Stay tuned – one day I’ll be back for real!

According to my sources Mads and his father (also team boss of the Adapta team) had a meeting with MINI representatives during Rally Sweden together with their friends at Prodrive. I have no clue what was said in the meeting (if it really did happen) but I would really like to know

PG Andersson on the Friday's super special stage. Nobody in the class had a chance to really challenge PG during the rally. Photo: Rasmus Bjerén

So, I went to Rally Sweden. Actually it was the first WRC rally I have visited without working in one way or another since Rally Sweden 2005. And it was amazing!!!

Here are a few reflections from the rally:

• Petter Solberg was mentally stuck in his pre-rally business. He surprised with a silly mistake already on the super special stage and he continued to do them throughout the weekend. You could virtually hear where it all was going when Petter talked to the Swedish Radio early on Friday and started to talk about his mistake without even being asked. That’s not really the mental approach you need… I had high hopes on Petter for this season – and I hope he can be better prepared and repair the impression in Mexico.
• PG Andersson – give that man a works seat, now! He punished well-established drivers in better cars last year in the Fabia WRC and this year he totally undressed his competitors in the S-WRC class. Unfortunately, not results and neither Star of the Rally-awards can be used to pay bills. PG knows that for sure, and I’m afraid his Swedish fans will have to learn it if they don’t already know. However, I hope PG is lucky and that this opens up some eyes for the rest of the season and 2011!
• Patrik Sandell failed to stand the competition of PG Andersson when given the same car. I’m afraid I can’t say this surprised me – but it’s disappointing to see considering that Sandell has one year experience with the car and two years experience of S2000 compared to PG that sat in the car first time just days before the rally. Sandell’s comments during the rally started to sound very much like excuses – and what else could he say? However, afterwards he has paid his respect to PG’s impressive driving and that’s the kind of sportsmanship I like!
• Patrik Flodin did what he was supposed to do and just delivered – but got totally placed in the shadows by the new S2000 class and PG’s drive. He would have needed a real PR boost – but at least it looks like the winds are warmer back in Russia at the Uspenskiy team. Maybe Flodin can get a few drives or perhaps even the whole PWRC championship this year?

• Kimi Räikkönen and media… Ok – the guy isn’t really a media whore, but honestly… It’s Kimi Räikkönen, what did you expect? And at the same time it’s his personality. Isn’t a little bit about the media interest in Kimi also the interest in the shy, airy Kimi that you can hardly get to speak at all?! I think so, and I think that even a quiet Kimi is a huge boost for the WRC. Just let the guy be and suddenly he will talk…
• Kimi Räikkönen and rally driving… I don’t understand how people can be so disappointed!? After just a few rallies in his career and the second ever WRC rally – what results can you expect? I’m impressed that Kimi reached the finish, considering that he attacked quite OK. Posting multiple stage times withing the top 8 must be considered good for a newbie, no matter how talented he is. I have high hopes for Kimi’s driving!

• Mikko Hirvonen showed that he wants to challenge for the win this year. I hope and actually I also think that he will be up for the challenge this year and able to match Loeb in the charge for the title. He was really close last year and I don’t know if he will make it this year – but I think it will be close. And honestly… How fun wouldn’t it be with a new champion? Mikko has grown from silly mistakes in Subaru in 2004 to a mature driver. He really proved it by taking his own, gambling decisions regarding the setup of the car during the rally. Go Mikko!

• The surface discussion was just ridiculous. Paid drivers complaining about some frozen gravel and even saying it’s not winter conditions?!?! Nothing can be more stupid. This winter has been the coldest since 1986 or more in Sweden and we’ve had snow and sub-zero temperatures since early December in the rally area. Drivers complain because they want easy driving, but as spectators we want difficult driving! What should the WRC really be about if not difficulties?? The team managers understand it, at least, since they say Rally Sweden must stay in the calendar. It was pure winter conditions this year and the drivers just have to accept that winter isn’t synonymous with ice. On top of that the conditions were just perfect for spectators and TV – that in numbers represent the number of competitors multiplied by thousands…

• The media coverage sucked – as we’re used to with North One Sport. The WRC season opener are oceans away from the live coverage of the IRC season opener. Of course it’s difficult – but guys, you need to try at least! Why wasn’t all the super specials and sprints live covered on the web, as well as the Värmullsåsen stage (that was live in Swedish TV)? That should be a piece of cake, at least compared to airing a whole rally live. When will North One start to deliver???
• The Abu Dhabi people indicated that they may need to get better both in understanding rally and in writing press releases. To talk about PG Andersson’s performance as a result of local knowledge and home support sounds more like an insult than an award to me considering his earlier performances on the international arena?! His two J-WRC titles and his performance in the lousy Suzuki SX4WRC in 2008 is good proof that this isn’t about being some kind of snow expert. PG Andersson is one of the world’s best drivers, and to not give him that recognition cannot be called an award.
• The Rally Sweden organisers have had a really hard time almost totally out of money. They had some luck with the weather, but they also managed to do a really good rally despite the resources that has been a lot more limited than ever before (in “modern time”). World class!

The junction where a LOT of people went off (a bit into the movie):

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Hirvonen and Loeb challenging on Colin’s Crest (Vargåsen):

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Kimi Räikkönen crashing on Sågen:

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Stunning onboard with Mikko Hirvonen on Vargåsen:

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First day video:

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Second day video:

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Third day video:

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Thanks to eslake123, MadCowYuuko, TwitChii, Sdimm, nedbis and milkowsky for the videos.

All photos are taken by Rasmus Bjerén and protected by copyright. If you wanna share them, please link to this post and do not copy the image or link directly to it!

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Thanks to Mikael Hjerpe for this!

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Thanks to Petter himself and mijn400 for the videos.

The Ford team’s service area:

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Ford’s Super2000 service area:

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Ford under the bonnet:

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Ford’s Stobart service:

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Thanks to mijn400 for the videos.

• Patrik Flodin with co-driver Göran Bergsten met a car on the recce today and had to push their car off road. They stood off road for an hour before being able to continue.
• Co-driver Göran Bergsten told that the roads today were a looot better than the cars they drove yesterday. Even Anders Gröndal seems to be of the same opinion, looking at his blog…
• The drivers doing the shakedown gets four extra tyres.

Rally Sweden scrutineering in Karlstad. Photo: Mikael Hjerpe

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Gröndal’s reaction is interesting. Some drivers seems to be complaining about the conditions – and I understand if they have problems driving on snow. It’s complicated – for sure – and it should be! I’m sure I would be quite concerned if I were to drive a rally on it. However, Gröndal’s quote must be some other kind of problem, possibly some kind of overheating in his brain?! He has been driving a full day in the forests with around half a meter of snow all around him – and he can still claim that it’s not a winter rally? Come on, no matter if you reach the gravel – it’s still very much winter and wintry conditions, dear Gröndal. I’ll explain why…

So, here comes a short tutorial about the difference between snow, ice and water – dedicated to Anders Gröndal:

• Snow is a type of precipation consisting of crystalline water ice (Full definition is on Wikipedia). In it’s fully frozen state snow feels really dry.
• When snow melts, it results in fluid water. Quite logically, since it’s small ice crystals. This means, that when it rains on snow or when temperatures raise above zero – the snow on the road (since we’re talking rally here) gets softer and melts to water from the top.
• If the temperature goes down below zero again, the partially melted snow layer will freeze again. The parts of the snow that is fully or partially melted will form a layer of solid ice on the road. This is the ice Gröndal is talking about – and missing.
• If you’ve read all those three points, I guess you don’t find it very difficult. It’s like the very, very basics of winter weather and surfaces. And therefore it’s hard to understand that Gröndal doesn’t understand it. However, to call the current conditions (that for sure will include gravel after the loose snow is swept away) something else than proper winter conditions is just pure bullshit – and now you know why: The ice layer Gröndal is talking about is nice, for sure. But it doesn’t come from winter conditions – it comes from the _lack_ of winter conditions sometimes earlier in time…

So, for everyone of you coming to Sweden. Be cool. Gröndal will have to struggle if he isn’t good enough to drive on proper winter conditions (!) – but you will have a wonderful time with a lot of loose, cold snow out in the forests. It has just never melted since the winter started in early December – but to me that’s more a good sign than a bad!?!

Enjoy!

By the way, to Anders Gröndal: You don’t need to thank me for this guide. Be my guest! And if you still don’t understand – go to some local gas station here in Sweden and buy yourself a “glass” (icecream). Bring it into your cottage or hotel room and see what happens after a while. When it’s half frozen… Go out again and see what happens. Tada! It’s like magic!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to Hedlund80 for the videos.

Some of Sandell's new livery exposed at the successful test in Norway. Photo: James Holms

Patrik Sandell with co-driver Emil Axelsson have spent the day testing on snow in Norway with their car for the 2010 season, the Red Bull Skoda Fabia Super2000.

Sandell himself said at the test:

- We’re doing just fine. It was good to do a rally in Norway last weekend, so we didn’t have to start at zero now. We are doing some small adjustments to the dampers to find the right setup for Rally Sweden, but the feeling is really good. Since it has snowed so much this winter the roads will be narrower than in 2008, which will make the speed go down. However, it will still be a fast rally so we chose a fast test road to see have the Skoda behaves in full speed bends.

Patrik, who will drive in the new S-WRC / WRC Cup class, continues:

- The competition in the rally will be the best we have ever met. PG is driving exactly the same car on a wild card and will be incredibly fast, so he will probably be our biggest challenge. But even Prokop and Tuohino will be there fighting for the points, he concludes.

PG Andersson's car at today's test. Photo: pgandersson.se

As the header says, a lot of last minute testing is going on for Rally Sweden… On the list is local ace P-A Sääv that will do the rally in his privately owned and newly bought Skoda Fabia Super2000. Together with him, PG Andersson will do tests with his Skoda Fabia Super2000 that has now arrived in Sweden. At the same time as PG and Sääv is testing their Fabias, Patrik Sandell is doing tests with the Red Bull Rally Team today over in Norway…

PG Andersson's car without stripes in the garage after arrival.

Andreas Mikkelsen's test place in Kall, Sweden a few days ago when Marcus Grönholm was testing the car. Today, Monday, it's Andreas' turn to do the testing. Photo: andreasmikkelsen.no

It seems like Andreas Mikkelsen has decided that he will use the Ford Fiesta Super2000 for this years campaign (source: Verdens Gang) in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Earlier, I have reported that Mikkelsen was still in the choice between the Fiesta and the Skoda Fabia Super2000 – a decisiong that now has been made.

First off and as we already know, Andreas will do Sweden in the Fiesta. Then he will follow up with a seven round programme in the IRC with the hope to go back to the World Rally Championship in 2011.

Mikkelsen’s manager, Erik Veiby, says:

- We have been working purposefully to get Andreas and Ola in a competitive car, and a team that can win the IRC series this year.

We’ll see if that’s correct…

Petter Solberg's car during service while testing in Sweden on Sunday. Photo: PSWRT

Petter Solberg, who has previously done both tests and a few test rallys (Svully Rally Dahbi in Norway and Finnskogsvalsen in Sweden) during the recent weeks, tested his Citroën C4WRC in Sweden once again yesterday. In a short post on his blog Petter said that driving the car was good fun and that it’s really fast. Today Petter is probably checking in for the rally and tomorrow starts the recce that will take place during Tuesday and Wednesday.

Karlstad Super Special Stage this afternoon. Photo: Mikael Hjerpe

A friend of mine in Karlstad just gave me a report of the conditions at the Karlstad Super Special Stage, where Rally Sweden is set to kick off on Thursday . The stage will also be run a second time on Friday evening.

The conditions are perfect with ice, snow and a temperature of +2 in the sun and -4 in the shadows. This is perfect since it allows for the upper surface to melt just a little to then freeze once again. The organiser also monitors the surface a long time before the rally and makes sure to build up a thick level of ice on the track.

Just watch the beautiful picture!?!

Come on, how should one react? “Oh, poor Sebastien.” Can’t you drive on real snow? Hehe… I think this underlines quite well that it doesn’t matter how the conditions are – people will still complain. Probably it’s just a smart way of not having to speak about your performance just before the rally – and save that until after. I respect that it happens, but one shouldn’t take too much notice of it…

Looking at yr.no, the Thursday to Saturday (this is as far as their forecast goes) will have -7 to -10 degrees, and mostly sunny weather. Perfect conditions, considering it has been snowy and cold for the last two months! During the last few days it has snowed in the area, actually so much that roofs has been breaking etc. because of the amount of snow on them.

So, everything looks really, really good for a snowy rally…

Petter Solberg on the start ramp of Svully Rally Dahbi today. Photo: PSWRT

The Norweigan Svully Rally Dahbi were ran today, and as expected Petter Solberg won the rally with a huge margin to second placed Marcus Grönholm. However, as the rally primarily was an interesting test for the upcoming Rally Sweden – some things were more interesting than the end results:

• Solberg, who sealed a sponsorship agreement with energy drink Mad-Croc earlier this week, were happy with the car and had adjusted settings that made him even more comfortable with the Citroen C4 WRC than last weekend in Sweden.
• Marcus Grönholm won the fight over both Mikkelsen and Sandell – all running in Subaru Impreza group N cars, were Grönholm had the oldest one of them. However, the battle between Mikkelsen and Sandell were quite close despite Mikkelsen being the one most used to his car. That is interesting since Mikkelsen is often considered more of a “raw talent” than Sandell.
• Swedish young shot Pontus Tidemand were impressive managing to keep up the speed with Patrik Sandell and finishing just 1.2 secs behind. There you can talk about a raw talent, and I’d be surprised if we don’t see Pontus in the international arena within a few years!

Daniel Carlsson with co-driver Bosse Holmstrand enjoying perfect snow conditions of solid ice covered with a thin layer of loose snow in Uddeholm Swedish Rally 2006. Photo: Rasmus Bjerén

With more than two weeks left before the rally kicks off it’s too early to judge how the weather situation for Rally Sweden will be, but considering the discussions that has always been before the rally in recent years, I can’t avoid thinking about how promising it looks. It has been cold weather since early December in the rally region (and in almost whole Sweden) and currently reports are talking about ca 40 cm’s of snow in the area. That may of course vary locally, but there is snow – no doubt. And then, looking at the forecast for the next 10 days, it shows more snow the next few days and cold weather for the whole period.

The only thing that could improve is the icyness. The snow came immeditely as the temperature had gone sub-zero – and since the snow isolates the ground, that means that the ground isn’t frozen as much as it would preferably be. Without a layer of ice and/or frozen ground, the car will fast blow away the snow and reach the ground that gets muddy and teared up. If it came a short, very short, melting period followed by cold weather again – the snow surface on the roads would get packed, partially melted and then freezed back to ice. That, with a thin or thick layer of fresh snow on top of it would make up the perfect conditions for a winter rally with snow spraying behind the cars, studs staying in the tires and a great winter atmosphere.

However, I think the current conditions are certainly good enough – and better than most times – for a fantastic winter rally. So, let’s not worry and just hope the fantastic conditions stay for the next few weeks, and everything will be just amazing! I have a feeling that Rally Sweden 2010 will be remembered as the best for quite a few years…!

If more movies of Petter in Finnskogsvalsen appear later, they’ll be added to this post – so check back for latest.

NEW! Video with service and some action shots.

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Thanks to bakkis2 for this video.

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Thanks to cnygge for the video.

Driving on SS2:

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The interview:

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Quotes from Petter’s interview:

• “This is most a way to test on many stages and get back to the feeling again”
• “I have one goal this year, and that is to beat Sebastien Loeb. I’m a privateer now and that’s tough, many people probably regard it impossible, but I will try my best and I have a 2009 spec car that should be at least almost the same as the one Loeb will drive. I will do my workouts,eat good and try to get more testing than Sebastien. He will do 15 test days this year, so I have planned 26.”
• Asked on the differences between Petter’s car and the 2010 Citroen works car, Petter says: “Sebastiens gearbox is 4 kg lighter than mine. I could get it, but it would cost me 8M NOK (ca €912.000) more, so I thought I’ll have to lose 4 kg’s myself instead.”
• Talking on when Petter left Subaru, he says: “I had a good time with Subaru and we had many good years, but it came a time without that right philosophy, and then you’ll have to do something. They’ll probably come back some time – but when you don’t fight to win anymore you can’t do anything else [than leaving]. Now it’s Citroen and times have changed, but that’s life. It changes and you can just look forward.”
• “The Citroen and the Ford is very similar cars, but I have a feeling the Citroen is better. Especially since this year’s WRC has many asphalt rallies, where the Citroen is clearly better.”
• “I have one team in Torsby and one in France. The French team is currently preparing my other car for Mexico, and it will be loaded on the containers on Monday. At the same time, Pernilla is working on clothes and other things. Everyone in this team is working all around the day now, very hard.”
• “This is the life of my family and also my wife Pernilla’s family. We all want to win and we’ll try to do it…”

Petter Solberg's car in service during Finnskogsvalsen. Photo: PSWRT

Petter Solberg were fastest through the stages in Swedish local competition Finnskogsvalsen today, as expected (I dare to say this despite the last stage is still running, since Petter is through with a normal time and his advantage on the previous stage is 3min 56 seconds). The Norweigan drove his Citroën C4WRC through a little bit more than 80 km’s of competitive stages and seemed to be really happy about the car. Since he recced and made his own notes for the rally, which is not allowed, Petter took part out of the competition and couldn’t win the rally. This, however, is probably nothing that will give Petter problems sleeping tonight – since the rally was first and foremost a test of his new car before Rally Sweden.

At the same time, a number of big names competed in the Norweigan Championship round Mountain Rally in Norway. Anders Gröndal took the victory from second placed Henning Solberg, who were haunted by mechanical problems in his competitive debut with new co-driver Ilka Minor. Mads Östberg with his Swedish co-driver Jonas Andersson led the rally until he hit a snow bank, forcing him out of the competition. Third was Sveinung Bieltvedt, in a Subaru Impreza.

Of course even Henning, going with a Ford Focus WRC05, used the rally primarily as a preparation for Rally Sweden. In this, he was joined by Andreas Mikkelsen and Eyvind Brynhildsen, among others. Brynhildsen scored a fourth place in his Skoda Fabia S2000 while Mikkelsen scored fifth going with his Subaru Impreza – after being penalised with 1min 20s after having to change gearbox in service. Looking at Mikkelsens time if he wouldn’t have had the penalty, he was only a few seconds after Brynhildsen in his S2000, something that maybe indicates that Mikkelsen can be really, really fast when going into the Fiesta S2000 in Sweden!?

Photos from Finnskogsvalsen at Backmans Foto
Results from Finnskogsvalsen 2010 at Resultatdata
Results from Mountain Rally 2010

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Thanks to Hedlund80 for the videos.

Petter Solberg is testing his Citroen C4WRC near Torsby in Värmland today. Photo: PSWRT

Petter Solberg just updated his blog with the following quote:

- Just did the first run, and this car is just unbelieveable! It’s totally different from the car I had last year. I mean, the balance is so good and the grip is amazing. Just one thing to say now; Rally Sweden – here I come!

It’s interesting to see that Petter is so happy immediately, since it means that he maybe really have managed to get the right stuff out of the Citroën factory – something that almost no privateer has previously managed to do. Citroën have always been very keen of protecting their works drivers from concurrence by providing engine mappings and parts that has obviously been not as good as the works stuff. Ask Petter about last year, Manfred Stohl, Daniel Carlsson and many other people…

If Petter has the right stuff – he can finally become a contender again and maybe be one of the guys on top in the championship. That would be an amazing boost to the WRC. However, still that’s just dreams, but let’s hope for more good reports from Petter.

Download the list here

PG himself, who makes his debut in the class, says:

- It will really be fun to test this class – and especially on my home soil.

Now, we have an even more interesting fight to look forward to in group N with Andersson, Sandell, Brynhildsen, Mikkelsen, Prokop among others. My guess is that this will be the closest and most intense fight in the rally, with a lot of young guys wanting to win like nobody else.

PG Andersson’s group N wildcard has been given to Jocke Nyman – and PG will get a new wildcard from the organisers for the S-WRC instead. His car will be managed by Czech company JM Racing.

Magnus Samuelsson, probably the strongest man in a rally car?! Photo: Gustafssons foto

Now it’s confirmed. As I revealed earlier today, Magnus Samuelsson (World’s Strongest Man) will start Rally Sweden 2010. The team aims to start in the World Rally Championship round, but since they still don’t have a full budget a Swedish Championship start may  be the case instead. Magnus is backed by Fredrik Eljas and Olof Eljas, and the later of them will be responsible for giving Magnus the training needed (not physical, huh!?!) to do the start.

The team will run a 280bhp Subaru Impreza group N of latest spec. Magnus Samuelsson himself comments the start as follows:

- This is my dream as a young boy coming true. I’ve tried “folkrace” before but the dream has always been to drive a real rally car. It will be a true adventure and just the thought of being at the start line along with Loeb and the other boys is breathtaking.

Read the article (in Swedish) at RallySweden.com

The question for me is how the entry will be solved? Magnus is not entered in the WRC round, nor the Swedish Championship. In the Swedish Championship part Hasse Gustafsson is entered with an Impreza – but I doubt the driver can be switched after the entries close. I think that the organiser can accept a late entry if the other competitors in the class accept it, and maybe that’s the way to choose. Or, they may blame the fax and say the entry got late because of their technical problems? A reason that may also be completetly true, of course…

Read more about Magnus Samuelsson on his own website

Here is an extract from the entry list in the rally:

Click here for the full entry list for Finnskogsvalsen

Kimi Räikkönen, Citroen C4WRC, Photo: Citroen

Kimi Räikkönen did his first Citroen C4 WRC tests yesterday in Citroens test track outside their factory in Satory, France. The test covered around 50km’s and was successful. Afterwards, Räikkönen talked to Autosport and told that he enjoyed meeting the team. He also stated he wants to get back in the car soon:

- It was good to try out a few different things; I was very interested to see how the car reacted when you changed some of the settings. Now I’m really keen to get back behind the wheel of the C4 again, Räikkönen said.

The good thing for Räikkönen then is that his competitive debut, as known, will be already in the Arctic Rally in Finland later this month – as a preparation for Rally Sweden. I also guess that more tests are planned before that rally.

Kimi Räikkönen in the Citroen C4 WRC, Photo: Citroen

Obviously the recruitment will be a major boost for Brynhildsen. He has already had an experienced co-driver in Giraudet, but he will now have a fellow countryman, speaking his own language and with heavy experience alongside himself. Also on the marketing side, I think Cato will be good with contacts and his familiar face to media. The only negative aspect I think is the important contacts that Denis Giraudet has, especially since he’s a frenchman – and it’s widely known that the French guys in rallying appreciate to work with their countrymen. This means that Brynhildsen (this is on a very inofficial basis) loses some contacts and goodwill among the French actors in rallying, that Cato maybe cannot weight up.

No matter what, it will be really interesting to see what the Norweigan duo can do. Both are real talents and under the right circumstances I think they really can surprise!

Also S2000 will be interesting to follow, where home ace Patrik Sandell will be hunted by skilled drivers as Mikkelsen, Brynhildsen, Prokop and Tuohino. Also Solowow, Sousa and Hunt and heavily experienced home ace Per-Arne Sääv, running on the organizers wild card, are entered in S2000 cars.

My current most interesting list (to be updated, for sure!):

• Loeb vs. Hirvonen + Latvala
• Petter vs. Henning
• How fast can Grönholm and Räikkönen be?
• What happens to the Swede superfight in group N: Andersson + Flodin + Nyman?
• The Super2000 superfight: Sandell vs. Mikkelsen + Brynhildsen + Prokop + Tuohino

Every single one of the points above will probably be world class entertainment – and of course I’ll get back with more comments, interviews etc. related to the entries. This is just the start…!

Read the full entrylist here

Patrik Flodin himself, that is now the first ever non-Russian Russian Champion (nice scentence, huh?), says:

- It will be incredibly fun to drive on home soil again. I’m really looking forward to the rally!

Read my interview with Patrik from the 4th of January here

Besides Petter’s entry, the list contains no big surprises. However, Polish driver Michal Solowow is entered in a Peugeot 207 S2000 – something that has been rumoured but as far as I know not confirmed until now. A lot of names should still come in the entry list – the time expires tomorrow at 15PM local time for WRC entries.

Read the current entry list here (external link)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to femtyfem for the video.

Tomorrow is the final day for entries to Rally Sweden, and a lot of things should conclude during today and tomorrow. One of the things expected to be announced today is the car for local driver and rally wildcard PG Andersson. As I have previously reported, he is currently considering wether to go for his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX in group N or a rental Super2000 car.

The whole competition will be a test where PG tries wether he can keep the speed up with Eyvind Brynhildsen in his Skoda Fabia Super2000. PG says that renting a Super2000 car costs twice as much as doing the home rally in his own Mitsubishi – and if he can, he will save the money for later:

- I’ve got the money it takes, but if I can do two rallies instead of one for them I would prefer that, says PG.

Besides the start in Rally Sweden, which now seems to be totally confirmed, PG is looking at entering the IRC round Rally Italia Sardinia in June. For that rally he would rent a Super2000 car. However, the first thing after Sigdalsrallyt for PG is to do ice notes for Guy Wilks in Rally Monte Carlo later this month. As I revealed yesterday, Wilks is expected to confirm his agreement with Skoda UK today announcing a drive in the 2010 IRC.

Find the list online here: http://www.rallysweden.com/wrc/en/?page_id=63

Patrik Sandell is confirmed in Red Bull Rally Team and the Skoda Fabia Super2000, Photo: Red Bull Rally Team

As I revealed already in December, Patrik Sandell with his co-driver Emil Axelsson will do the S-WRC in 2010 with Red Bull Skoda. Patrik himself tells:

- I’m very pleased to be able to drive for the BRR team again this year. It’s a very professional team, and I very much enjoy working with them. I believe they are the best. We will be able to build upon last year’s experience and progress accordingly. The target can only be the SWRC title!

Also Raimund Baumschlager, team manager, is optimistic and reveals that there will be an updated version of the Skoda Fabia Super2000 in the summer this year, called Evo2. He claims that the Fabia is a winning car and looks forward to the battle even more as Ford enters the scene with their Fiesta this year.

The team will start testing for Rally Sweden already next week, and will then drive seven events in the S-WRC calendar.
I will get back later with an interview with Patrik himself.

Red Bull Rally Team, Patrik Sandell / Emil Axelsson, calendar 2010:

February 12th – 14th Sweden
April 2nd – 4th Jordan
May 7th – 9th New Zealand
July 30th – August 1st Finland
August 20th – 22nd Germany
October 1st – 3rd France
November 12th – 14th Great Britain

Flodin admits that times are tough, but still shows a glimpse of optimism:

- Currently I’ve got nothing to announce. For a full WRC or IRC campaign it looks dark, but I’m trying to get together a start in Rally Sweden and then we’ll see. Nothing is decided about the car, but I’m looking at renting a Subaru or Mitsubishi grp N. I’ve got some local sponsors onboard but nothing is finalised with the big ones.

Even though a larger programme looks dark to the Swede, he underlines that things may happen later in the season. Many drivers are switching for IRC, but Flodin is still looking primarily for the World Championship:

- I’d like to do the World Rally Championship, and the dream would be a Super2000 car… The new class [S-WRC / WRCCup] would be perfect for me.

So, I guess we just have to wish Patrik good luck and hope we’ll see him in Rally Sweden and more rallies during the year.

In Hamar Dagblad, the young Norweigan says that his goal is to win the IRC this year, have a works seat in 2011 and win the WRC in 2012. A tough goal, if you ask me – but why not?

Soon, Maximum Attack has existed for one year, and even since the last half of the year hasn’t been very active until recently – it’s been a good one. Now, let’s hope for an even better 2010. IRC are full of interesting competitors, and the WRC Cup/S-WRC along with Kimi Räikkönen’s comeback makes up for some interesting stuff in the WRC too.

Until Rally Sweden starts – better than ever – in the beginning of February, why not stick with this video of Henning Solberg? I was standing in exactly that turn, really close to the camera that took this pictures – and even though accidents are never fun – it was a fabulous example of the thrill you can get to see in a WRC event.

Click here to view the embedded video.

By the way… Here is my own (still) footage of the event:

According to Bertil Klarin, m.d. of Rally Sweden, it means that both the Swedish Championship and the WRC event will get a lot of coverage.

Exact details regarding the coverage of Rally Sweden is not know, but the plan is TV broadcasts for four days during the rally, including live coverage of the Karlstad Super Special Stage in the start of the rally and also the finish at the new, spectacular Värmullsåsen stage in Hagfors.

(Source, in Swedish: SR)