P-WRC victory for Flodin on home rally in Sweden

In their Subaru Impreza, Swedish guest driver Patrik Flodin and co-driver Göran Bergsten led their home event from start to finish on the first round of the 2010 FIA Production Car World Rally Championship for Drivers, Rally Sweden.

Norwegian driver Anders Gröndal, also in a Subaru, finished in second with a comfortable 3 minutes 51 seconds gap ahead of third placed defending P-WRC Champion Armindo Araújo (PRT) in his Mitsubishi Evolution Lancer X, but Gröndal was unable to touch Flodin. The Norwegian finished 1 minute 13 seconds behind the leader, despite racking up six stage
wins over the course of the event.

A series of problems for Gröndal assisted Patrik to hold onto his clear lead. On SS3, Gröndal caught the car in front and was just getting back on track on day one when he lost his light pod on SS7 and had to complete the stage in the dark.

Day two also got off to a bad start when his eager pursuit of Flodin in SS9 landed him in a ditch, leaving the air box full of snow and his engine performance limited. Overall on day three, Gröndal shaved six seconds off Flodin’s lead, but this wasn’t enough to touch the class winner.

Araújo took a solid third, but not without a battle with Semerád which lasted throughout the first two days of Rally Sweden. Despite not making any clear mistakes, Araújo suffered on all three days of the event with set-up problems. The heavy Mitsubishi Evolution X, which he has chosen to drive this year instead of the Evolution IX in which he won the 2009 Championship, was strong over gravel sections, but too heavy in the snow and ice. Unhappy with the car’s handling, Araújo lost time throughout the rally as the car fought against his steering and he lost control, resulting in regular skidding.

Despite Semerád’s air box filling with snow on SS2 and a resulting loss of power putting him 33.7 behind Araújo, the Portuguese champion’s set-up problems left room for Semerád Mitsubishi Evolution IX, to sneak into third place at the end of day one, beginning day two just 14 seconds ahead of Araújo.

Semerád was however concerned that with a stronger set-up Araújo would win back the time and by the end of day two, the roles had been reversed as Araújo finished 15 seconds ahead of the 19 year-old Czech driver.

After running off the road into a ditch on SS18, Semerád lost over five minutes and the battle was over. Araújo was in a clear third place, 8 minutes and 3 seconds ahead of Semerád and then things went from bad to worse as on SS21 as Semerád once again lost control of the car, eventually finishing 9 minutes and 8 seconds behind leader Flodin and ending the rally in a disappointing fifth place.

1st – Patrik Flodin, Subaru Impreza: “It feels fantastic to start the season with a win and now I really hope I can do the whole P-WRC season. It’s great to win my home rally so it’s good for me in every way.”

2nd – Anders Gröndal, Subaru Impreza: “I feel really good. I would have won the event if Patrik hadn’t been so fast. It’s a long time since I was in a Group N car and I have learnt a lot on this rally. You learn a lot more than in a local championship.”

3rd – Armindo Araújo, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X: “We finished on the podium so we are very happy. It was the best possible result for us and at this point it has given me the confidence I needed to go for this Championship win again this year.”