Exciting entry for Rally Sweden

Twenty-one World Rally Cars will contest Rally Sweden next month with eight drivers set to chase points in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship section of the high-speed snow contest.

Sebastien Loeb, the defending world champion and current title leader, heads the entry in his Citroen Total World Rally Team DS3 WRC. Joining him in the all-conquering French squad is last year’s Rally Sweden winner Mikko Hirvonen, while semi-works cars will be run for newcomer Nasser Al-Attiyah, Rally Sweden rookie Thierry Neuville and Peter van Merksteijn Jr, a Citroen regular in 2011.

Ford hasn’t been beaten in Sweden since 2006 and has two former event winners in its factory line-up, Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg. Rising stars Ott Tanak and Evgeny Novikov front the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, which is running a third entry for Michal Solowow, who is driving a new-generation World Rally Car in competition for the first time.

Matthew Wilson and Henning Solberg will represent the new Go Fast Energy World Rally Team, Jari Ketomaa is back in a Fiesta RS WRC for the first time since last year’s Neste Oil Rally Finland, while Martin Prokop continues his 10-event WRC campaign with the Czech Ford National Team.

Mads Ostberg, who starred on Rally Sweden last season by leading before finishing second overall, makes his first start of the year in his Adapta-run Fiesta alongside new team-mate and World Rally Car rookie Eyvind Brynildsen.

Dani Sordo will once again head the MINI WRC Team’s challenge, which boasts local hero Patrik Sandell for the first time. Touring car racer Richard Goransson will also drive a MINI John Cooper Works WRC, the car of choice for privateers Armindo Araujo and Paulo Nobre.

Hayden Paddon heads the SWRC runners in his Skoda Fabia but will face tough opposition from category leader Craig Breen and PROTON’s Swedish ace PG Andersson. Alister McRae makes his SWRC debut in a second PROTON. Maciej Oleksowicz and Yazeed Al-Rajhi are also SWRC first-timers in their Fiesta S2000s, while Pontus Tidemand and Marius Aasen have secured wildcard entries for the event.

Other notable names on the entry include the Volkswagen Motorsport duo of Sebastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen, Anders Grondal and Brazilian Daniel Oliveira, who will drive a Subaru Impreza for Stohl Racing.

The event, based in Karlstad, takes place from 9-12 February and counts as round two of the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia.