Close fight expected on final leg

competitive action left in tomorrow's final leg, there is plenty to chasein Sweden. However Marcus Gronholm's grip on the lead of the second round
of the World Rally Championship looks as strong as ever with more than half
of those 43 seconds in hand over the chasing pack.

Colin McRae shattered the stage record for the longest stage of the event,
SS13 Jutbo, and looked a strong second place candidate until he spun on the
next stage and handed back the advantage to four-time World Champion Tommi
Makinen.

Thomas Radstrom's hopes of overhauling Gronholm's Peugeot faded as the icy
stages of the morning turned to a treacherous mixture of slush and muddy
gravel, leaving him vulnerable to attack from fifth placed Richard Burns.
However the Subaru driver was unable to capitalise on the technical
advantage he had from the factory Subaru over the privately run Toyota and
he will start tomorrow in fifth. Team mate Juha Kankkunen rounds off the
points placings but the Finn is already well behind and the chase for gold
tomorrow will rest with the five drivers ahead of him.

Team news...

Peugeot

Marcus Gronholm was wide awake at 4am and so was ready for action
immediately.

The overnight leader extended his lead with two fastest times
on the first stages and was able to rest a little easier as his rivals hit
trouble.

'I can go even quicker tomorrow because I know those stages much
better,' he explained.

Francois Delecour continues to drive steadily
because of his lack of detailed stage knowledge but still managed to
overshoot a junction and suffered a diff problem near the start of SS13.

Team director Corrado Provera dismissed any suggestion of team orders by
saying: 'We've got both cars in the points at the moment so anything else
is a gift. Marcus has gained 50% of the fastest times so far and so I can't
ask a driver to slow down.'


Mitsubishi

Tommi Makinen was not especially happy with his performance this morning
but could not attribute it to any specific reason. He did finally, however,
get rid of the annoying transmission noise that affected him yesterday when
the mechanics swapped the gearbox last night.

The World Champion lost the
chance to retake second place from McRae on the Jutbo stage when he went
off twice and broke three wheel rims.

Low hydraulic pressure has given
Freddy Loix a rear or centre diff worry but it was not expected to develop
into anything major during the day and the team was confident it could be
fully rectified at the final service in Grangesberg.

Ford

Colin McRae was on a charge this morning and stormed into second place over
the first two stages before consolidating his position with a
record-breaking drive over SS13 Jutbo, 65s faster than the previous best
time despite ending the stage with two punctures.

'I was quite surprised
because it didn't feel that quick,' admitted McRae.

However fortune was not
with Ford as Carlos Sainz retired before SS11 when part of the car's oil
pump system sheared on the road section and caused both the oil pump and
alternator to stop working.

McRae was delighted that the weather conditions
had been the way they were. 'If it had frozen overnight then I'd have been
worried about keeping the studs in the tyres on the gravel sections but
instead it has been quite muddy and we've not lost a single stud. We have
been able to make a full attack all the way.'

Both cars were fitted with
new engines after possible internal damage was spotted after the pre-rally
shakedown.

Subaru

Both Richard Burns and Juha Kankkunen were strangely subdued during the
morning, unable to find a perfect tyre solution to the melting ice that
greeted them on the stages.

Kankkunen's car also suffered from a
combination of front shock absorber damage and a misjudged tyre choice on
the opening stage and both drivers began to slip out of contention as the
day progressed.

'Everyone's driving at much the same pace so it's difficult
to break the pattern,' said Burns. 'The fastest way is to stay off the snow
banks.'

SEAT

The Spanish team suffered a bitter blow when Toni Gardemeister stopped 8kms
into SS11 with failed oil pressure.

'We stopped in the stage to see what
the problem was and found oil leaking from the oil pump. We tried to block
it and drove another 4kms but it was still leaking and so we stopped to
save further damage,' he said.

Didier Auriol was much happier with his
car's set up today although his tyre choice for SS11 and SS12 proved not to
be perfect for the car.

Harri Rovanpera has been suffering in the same way
that Thomas Radstrom was yesterday, finding no grip at all in the braking
areas because of the damage caused by earlier cars which began to tear
studs from his tyres..

Hyundai

Power steering failure was the reason why Kenneth Eriksson's service crew
swapped the gearbox this morning and the Hyundai driver gained some time
penalties for leaving the Grangesberg service parc late.

Rectifying the
problem is a complex process involving changing the centre diff and
gearbox.

Unfortunately the replacement 'box then lost fifth gear and
ensured a fraught day for the Swede. Nevertheless he was upbeat about the
new Accent WRC.

'Normally to come to an event and lose time would be
annoying but I can see the car has lots of potential. It will just take a
few more events to get everything sorted out.'