Swedish Rally

The Swedish Rally Results Mattias Ekström Andreas Aigner Aigner in Interview

Looking Ahead

The Red Bull Skoda Team was out of luck in the second round of the World Championships in Sweden: both Mattias Ekström and Andreas Aigner gave impressive performances before retiring in the last day of the Swedish Rally.

“Improving on last year’s result” was Mattias Ekström’s stated goal for the second WRC race, and until the third and last day the Swede was well on the way to achieving it in front of his home crowd: after two days Ekström – whose main successes are in DTM, although he is also remarkably fast on rough terrain – was in an excellent fifth place; in 2005 he reached the finishing line in tenth place.

Fateful Snow Bank

But his race ended abruptly in the first special stage on Sunday: “After four km the car swerved, I hit a snow bank, badly damaging the front of the Fabia and the radiator. Driving any further was impossible. Bad luck, we were on course for World Championship points”, Mattias Ekström said after dropping out.

Not much later team mate Andres Aigner made an equally unwelcome acquaintance at the very same spot. The Austrian drove into the same snow bank but was able to free himself and finish the stage.

Experience by the Kilometre

But the team rookie also had to park his Fabia early, before the start of the 16th special stage. The previous evening the Austrian, in his first WRC season, had been plagued by a misfiring engine, caused by a broken spark-plug. Subsequent damage to a cylinder led the team management to withdraw the 21-year-old from the race. Up to that point Aigner – like Ekström – had given a remarkable performance: in his Swedish premiere Aigner was ranked 22nd after two days, only 3.7 seconds behind the Spanish Junior World Champion Dani Sordo.

Although in the final event Aigner was unable to reach his target of completing the race, his gaze is firmly focused ahead: “Of course I’m disappointed, but things went well even with the engine problems, I felt very comfortable. One has to see things positively, I’ve learned a lot in Sweden. Every kilometre was a valuable experience for me. I’m confident that I’ll reach the finish next time.”

The next opportunity is the World Championship leg in Mexico from 3-5 March, where Frenchman Gilles Panizzi will replace Mattias Ektröm in the second Fabia.

Red Bull / Gepa Pictures
Mattias Ekström in his WRC Skoda Fabia before the race in Swedish Rallye 2005.

Red Bull / Gepa Pictures
Mattias Ekström in his WRC Skoda Fabia before the race in Swedish Rally 2005.

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The Swedish Rally for Beginners

Four attributes characterise the winter classic around the university town Karlstad.

1. The rally is driven on gravel, which is usually covered with ice and snow. Using studded tyres means that the Swedish Rally is one of the fastest in the World Championship calendar, even with its slippery ground conditions.

2. Even in Sweden winters are not what they used to be. Last year there was very little snow, but a lot of drifting on ice and gravel. Even with complete snow cover the studs dig through to the gravel – after the sixth or seventh car the surface is a mixture of snow, ice and gravel.

3. A favourite manoeuvre in curves is to lean the car against the typical snow banks. This is an excellent way to avoid slipping off the road; however, driving the car right into the snow wall instead means an even closer encounter with nature.