Swedish Rally
From Freepedia
The Swedish Rally (now the Uddeholm Swedish Rally) is an automobile rally competition held in Värmland, Sweden in early February. First held in 1950 with start and finish at separate locations, seventeen years later both start and finish is located in Karlstad. The main service park is located in the town of Hagfors, which is actually much closer to the special stages than Karlstad. The competition is spread out over three days with the start of the first part on Friday morning and the finish on Sunday afternoon.
In 1973 the rally was introduced to the World Rally Championship and started to get international attention, the Swedish Rally is also the only rally held on snow. The winners of the Swedish Rally has only been Swedes and Finns until the trend was broken by Sébastien Loeb in 2004.
The rally has only been cancelled twice; in 1974 due to the oil crisis and in 1990 because of the mild weather. Weather continues to be a concern, as rising global temperatures reduce the likelihood of appropriately snowy conditions every year. The 2005 event was one of the warmest ever, turning many stages into mud and destroying the special studded snow tires used by the teams.
Winners
- 2005 - Petter Solberg - [[Phil Mills
- 2004 - Sébastien Loeb - Daniel Elena Citroën
- 2003 - Marcus Grönholm - Timo Rautiainen Peugeot
- 2002 - Marcus Grönholm - Timo Rautiainen Peugeot
- 2001 - Harri Rovanperä - Risto Pietiläinen Peugeot
- 2000 - Marcus Grönholm - Timo Rautiainen Peugeot
- 1999 - Tommi Mäkinen - Risto MannisenmäkiMitsubishi
- 1998 - Tommi Mäkinen - Risto Mannisenmäki Mitsubishi
- 1997 - Kenneth Eriksson - Staffan Parmander Subaru
- 1996 - Tommi Mäkinen - Seppo Harjanne Mitsubishi
- 1995 - Kenneth Eriksson - Staffan Parmander Mitsubishi
- 1994 - Thomas Rådström - Lars Bäckman Toyota
- 1993 - Mats Jonsson - Lars Bäckman
- 1992 - Mats Jonsson - Lars Bäckman
- 1991 - Kenneth Eriksson - Staffan Parmander Mitsubishi
- 1990 - Cancelled.
- 1989 - Ingvar Carlsson - Per Carlsson
- 1988 - Markku Alén - Ilkka Kivimäki
- 1987 - Timo Salonen - Seppo Harjanne
- 1986 - Juha Kankkunen - Juha Piironen Peugeot
- 1985 - Ari Vatanen - Terry Harryman Peugeot
- 1984 - Stig Blomqvist - Björn Cederberg Audi
- 1983 - Hannu Mikkola - Arne Hertz
- 1982 - Stig Blomqvist - Björn Cederberg Audi
- 1981 - Hannu Mikkola - Arne Hertz
- 1980 - Anders Kulläng - Bruno Berglund Opel
- 1979 - Stig Blomqvist - Björn Cederberg
- 1978 - Björn Waldegård - Hans Thorszelius Ford
- 1977 - Stig Blomqvist - Hans Sylvan
- 1976 - Per Eklund - Björn Cederberg
- 1975 - Björn Waldegård - Hans Thorszelius Lancia
- 1974 - Cancelled.
- 1973 - Stig Blomqvist - Hans Sylvan
- 1972 - Stig Blomqvist - Hans Sylvan
- 1971 - Stig Blomqvist - Hans Sylvan
- 1970 - Björn Waldegård - Lars Helmèr Porsche
- 1969 - Björn Waldegård - Lars Helmèr Porsche
- 1968 - Björn Waldegård - Lars Helmèr Porsche
- 1967 - Bengt Söderström, Ford
- 1966 - Åke Andersson, Saab
- 1965 - Tom Trana, Volvo
- 1964 - Tom Trana, Volvo
- 1963 - Berndt Jansson, Porsche
- 1962 - Bengt Söderström, BMC
- 1961 - Carl-Magnus Skogh, Saab
- 1960 - Carl-Magnus Skogh, Saab
- 1959 - Erik Carlsson, Saab 93
- 1958 - Gunnar Andersson, Volvo
- 1957 - Ture Jansson, Volvo
- 1956 - Harry Bengtsson, Volkswagen
- 1955 - Allan Borgefors, Porsche
- 1954 - Carl-Gunnar Hammarlund, Porsche
- 1953 - Sture Nottorp, Porsche
- 1952 - Grus-Olle Persson, Porsche
- 1951 - Gunnar Bengtsson, Lago
- 1950 - Per-Fredrik Cederbaum, BMW
