Sweden Rally 2006: Kronos Citroen WRT - Preview
After a fantastic result in one of the most challenging Monte Carlos in years, the Kronos Total Citroën World Rally Team finds itself at the foot of the Northern face of the championship. For this untypical event, which the Belgian team urges to discover, one 2006-Xsara will be entered for the two times World Champions Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena, and a second one for their teammates Xavier Pons and Carlos Del Barrio.
Like in Monte Carlo, Daniel Sordo and Marc Marti will also be present. The Junior World Champion will compete behind the wheel of a 2005-Xsara, rented by Kronos Racing to the Spaniard.

The Swedish Rally remains – and especially since the Southern focus of the Monte Carlo – the only real winter round of the World Rally calendar. Taking place in the area of Hagfors (360 km West of Stockholm), the rally route goes through the tracks of the Värmland province. The gentle countryside of the region means that tight corners are a rarity. This leads to high speeds on the stages, which only slow down at junctions.

When the tough Nordic winter arrives, the snow which has been swept from the roads builds some compact and securing banks on the sides. The sheet ice offers a consistent surface and the cars equipped with around 380 studs on each tyre, go sideways supported by the thousands of fans gathered in the stages. The Swedish rally lies amongst the competitors` favourite events when all these ideal conditions are met.

It also happens that the weather isn`t so favourable to the drivers. A fresh layer of snow falling in the night preceding the first leg sometimes means that the first cars on the road will act as snowplough for those following them. “You really have to fight to loose as less time as possible, with studded tyre that the fresh snow stops from working efficiently and with a car difficult to handle,” explains the 2004 winner, Sébastien Loeb.

If the temperatures are too high for the season, the thin ice becomes too fragile and the road conditions change sometimes in disfavour of the chasing cars. Finally the worst situation, which happened last year, is the lack of snow. The threatening rocks are fairly visible and the appearing gravel can break the tyre studs, or the stones taken out from the inside of corners can damage the rims…

Like before the Monte Carlo, most of the preparation work on the Xsara WRC has been conducted by Citroën Sport. It consisted in adapting the 2006 car to the Swedish special stages, especially the front and rear differentials. After a test session at mid-December, Sébastien Loeb found a balanced and reactive car, showing a good handling. As usual, after finetuning the set-up, the BFGoodrich range of ‘Ice` tyres has been tried methodically. The Kronos Total Citroën WRT and its crews are ready.

The weather raises the final question. For the answer, rendez vous Friday February the 3rd around 8 o`clock in the area of Fredriksberg.

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