Day 1
What a day we’ve had! I must admit this was not the opening I was aiming for.

We still have to do some changes with the set up, as I still haven’t got into the rhythm with the car.

And that unbelievable incident on stage 5. I went off the road and got stuck, but spectators pulled us back on the road again. In the meantime Matthew passed us, but then he went straight into a snowbank after a while and got stuck there.

We had no chance, and hit his car with our car.

The first day in Rally Sweden didn’t turn out the way Petter Solberg and his team were hoping for.

A spin on yesterdays Super Special put him 18 seconds behind the leader, and he lost almost 5 minutes on stage 5 today after he went off the road.

The day ended much better than it started though, with a good 3rd place on the evenings Super Special in Karlstad. 8 of 21 stages are now completed, and Petter is 6.45,3 behind Mikko Hirvonen who is leading the rally. Sebastien Loeb is 2nd and Dani Sordo 3rd.

Day 2
The second day in Sweden is completed, and Mikko Hirvonen is in the lead.

Sebastien Loeb is 2nd, and Latvala is on 3rd. Petter, who lost 5 five minutes when he went off the road yesterday, is 9th.

After the time loss yesterday, I decided not to push to hard, to secure points in the championship.

We had some good splits today, and will continue to drive for more points tomorrow, says Petter Solberg. – With more than 100 k’s of stages to go, still a lot can happen.

Day 3
Today was the final day of Rally Sweden, and Petter ended 9th and scored 2 points in the championship. Mikko Hirvonen won the rally, Sebastien Loeb ended 2nd and Latvala 3rd.

Rally Sweden has been a real challenge for Petter Solberg World Rally Team. Petter and Phil started Friday morning 18 seconds behind the leader, caused by a spin on Thursdays Super Special. At SS5 on Friday they went off the road 13k’s into the stage, and lost more than 4 minutes.

Quote Ken Rees, Team Manager;

After a disappointing weekend in Sweden, we are looking forward to increasing our performance on Rally Mexico, which is an event Petter has always enjoyed.

By that we don’t mean he didn’t enjoy Sweden Rally, but after the frustrations of spinning and damaging the car on SS1, we never seemed to get the setting and confidence back to mount the challenge for fastest times.

We go away from Sweden having learned a lot about the car and team, and look forward to the remaining championship.

Overall classification Rally Sweden 2010
1. Hirvonen, Ford
2. Loeb, Citroën +42,3
3. Latvala, Ford +1.15,4
4. Sordo, Citroën +2.41,6
5. Ogier, Citroën +4.15,3
6. Henning, Ford +5.23,4
7. Wilson, Ford +7.53,9
8. Østberg, Subaru +9.22,2
9. Petter, Citroën +10.17,5
10. PG Andersson, Skoda +12.08,9