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WRC - 2016 Rally Sweden - Preview

  • gb
08.02.16
Rally Sweden, the second round of the FIA World Rally Championship, takes the contenders to the snowy forests of the country’s Värmland and Dalarna regions, as well as visiting neighbouring Norway for the majority of competitive action on Friday

Despite running on snow and ice, the event is one of the fastest on the calendar, an amazing amount of grip coming from narrow tungsten-tipped steel studded tyres. 

Beautiful scenery abounds in Sweden, but competing in sub-zero temperatures requires specific preparation for both man and machinery. Aside from the special tyres, which bite through the frozen road surface, crews can often be seen wearing heated racing boots and anti-glare glasses, which provide greater definition of the snow covered landscape. Life for the mechanics is also tough, outdoor servicing in freezing conditions making the job even more challenging.

However, with above zero temperatures in large parts of Scandinavia at the moment, snow and ice is melting and amendments have had to be made to the route. The weather forecast does however state colder temperatures from the middle of the week.

THE 2016 ROUTE

For the 63rd edition of the rally, the service area moves to Karlstad Harbour after several years based to the north of the city in Hagfors. Unusually, there are no mid-leg service halts on any of the days.

Rally Sweden 2016 Circuit

The new itinerary can be found at: http://www.rallysweden.com/tavlingen/maps-itinerary/

RALLY DATA

Total distance:
Stage distance:
Number of stages:

1,397.16 km
241.48 km (17.3%)
13

 

MEDIA ACCREDITATION

The Accreditation Centre is located in the Rally HQ Press Centre, Karlstad CCC. The opening hours are:

Tuesday 9 February
Wednesday 10 February
Thursday 11 February

14:00 – 20:00 hrs 
08:00 – 20:00 hrs
07:00 – 22:00 hrs 

 

RALLY SWEDEN TIMETABLE AND MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES ORGANISED BY THE FIA

 

Wednesday 10 February
Mandatory media safety briefing, photographers' room

Thursday 11 February
FIA Press Conference, Press Room, Rally HQ
Autograph session, Karlstad 
Opening ceremony 

Friday 12 February
Regroup, Kirkenaer, Norway
First car arrives for final service and Media Zone, Karlstad
Meet the Crews, WRC Stage, Service Park

Saturday 13 February
Regroup, Hagfors
First car arrives for final service and Media Zone, Karlstad
Meet the Crews, WRC Stage, Service Park

Sunday 14 February
Regroup, Hagfors
First car arrives for final service and Media Zone, Karlstad
Prize-Giving and podium ceremony, Karlstad Town Square
FIA Press Conference, Press Room, Rally HQ


17:15 hrs


17:00 hrs
18:15-18:45 hrs
19:00 hrs


11:49 hrs
17:32 hrs
During the 45' service


11:15 hrs
18:41 hrs
During the 45' service


11:05 hrs
13:54 hrs
15:15 hrs
16:30 hrs

 

FIA PRESS CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE

 

Thursday 11 February







Sunday 14 February

Pontus Tidemand, FIA WRC 2 Championship
Eyvind Brynildsen, FIA WRC 2 Championship
Marius Aasen, FIA WRC 2 Championship
Hayden Paddon, Hyundai Motorsport 
Mads Ostberg, M-Sport World Rally Team
Andreas Mikkelsen, Volkswagen Motorsport II
Yazeed Al Rajhi, Yazeed Racing

Winning FIA WRC 2 Championship crew
Winning FIA WRC 3 Championship crew
Top three crews in the overall classification
Representative of the winning entrant

 

ADDITIONAL MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES 

‘Meet the Crews’: On Friday and Saturday the top three drivers will attend a ‘Meet the Crews’ session for media and fans. This will take place on the Michelin Experience WRC Stage at the earliest opportunity during the final service.

Autograph Signing Session: On Friday and Saturday selected crews will be available for a 15 minute autograph session. This will take place in the service park during the end of day service at the teams’ service areas.

FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSIFICATIONS

The provisional classifications for all the WRC Championships can be found on the following link

STAGE CHART

Shortly after the finish of the event, a downloadable stage chart showing the progressive positions of the leading crews during the rally will be available. This is copyright free for editorial purposes and available at the following link.