The temperature ´s going down in Värmland. It will be a perfect winter event, says clerk of the course Bertil Klarin.

Real winter has returned to Värmland. Cold weather from north with lots of snow has quickly changed the scenery.
- The favourable weather conditions allow perfect preparation of the rally roads, making them still better before the rally on February 7-10. They have already been sprinkling the surface of the shake down and the Karlstad Super Special Stage, both situated within the Rally Village in the central parts of Karlstad.

Long term weather forecasts predict cold and lots of snow.

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Great news, it's going to be an incredibly tough rally then.

Mikko to win!

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I was waiting for this thread!

Good thing that the route is now fully covered with snow, otherwise there would have been issues with which tyres to use.

So can Mikko win??
No idea, but it'll be a lot closer between Ford and Citroen than Monte was I think.
Going by the last two years, the Subarus will have a tough rally.
Just 1 point from the last two Swedish Rallies.

And the Stobart Ford is the same car that Grönholm won the event with last season, so... we'll see after the Thursday shakedown.

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Predictions: I think Mikko is the man for the job, Loeb will be good but not fast enough, and a Subaru will take the final podium place...

Subaru won't win until they introduce the new Impreza, maybe not even then...

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Hoping for a Mikko win and hopefully Jari Matti can score some decent points this week

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Yeah Latvala needs to score some decent points after Monte...

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Weather looking good

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Speed is life

Swedish media are reporting Loeb's Citroen being stuck at customs.
Three truck drivers had a heavy bender during the night before the ferry arrived in Göteborg. The ferry crew called the police and they check them out. One manages to get away before the police strikes - he is M.I.A. (possibly camps somewhere on a not so heavily traficked road to get the alcohol out of his system before risking bumping into the cops again). The other two are busted, one is even so drunk that he's currently under arrest and the trucks (with cars and gear on) are for now impounded.

No Swedish company can take over the shipment because of insurance and toll declarations.

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Good, hopefully no Loeb in the rally.

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Correction on that last post, it is old news and involved recce teams and not the competition cars apparently. ops:

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What a shame!

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Well, Petter Solberg is leading after the opening superspecial stage: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/65036

I don't mind if the rally finishes like that.

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Loeb rolled on SS4, losing three minutes in the process. He was able to rejoin and reach the stage finish, before heading for the midday remote service for repairs.

Its a BP Ford 1-2, Latvala leading and Hirvonen second.

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Times after SS5: http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/new ... :_ss5.html

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Well done by the Fords!
But what a darn shame for Subaru with Atkinson losing 15 minutes. He's now down in 55th, there's no way he'll make it back into the points. Now I want the rally to end without Citroen scoring points, and Solberg keeping the 4 points for fifth.

If the rally ended this way that would mean:
1. BP Ford 27
2. Stobart Ford 21
3. Subaru WRT 14
4. Citroen 11
5. Suzuki 4

or something like that...

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22Lewis Hamilton
23Heikki Kovalainen
Pedro de la Rosa
Gary Paffett