Gronholm leads Rally of Sweden
Friday, 1 February 2002 18:55Marcus Gronholm leads the Rally of Sweden overnight after winning today's opening leg. The Peugeot driver has a narrow 0.9-second advantage over team-mate Harri Rovanpera, with Ford's Colin McRae in third place.
Finn Gronholm was pleased with today's events, despite the difficult driving conditions. "It has been a good day for me, but the car has been sliding around and it has been hard to find the right line," he said.
Championship leader Tommi Makinen was forced out after crashing his Subaru on the snow-blanketed roads. "We cut a junction a little too much and hit one of the big fresh snowbanks. We didn't slow down at all and we didn't realise what was wrong," said Makinen.
"We went through the corner, but after a few kilometres we realised that a lot of snow had damaged the radiator and the cooling system - no air could get through," he added.
World champion Richard Burns ended the day in 13th position after losing more than a minute when his car slid off the road.
Filed by Tom Grealis
