This is one of the most difficult rallies of the series due to tricky roads, heat and lack of fixed points on the stages. The race started already on Thursday at eleven o’clock with a ceremonial start. After that we headed directly to the stages. I drove the fastest time on the first two stages so we were able to compete with the Citroens. My car felt great to drive on slippery gravel roads so I was feeling terrific. The first day went smoothly with no mistakes and the car was working like a dream. On the last stage of Thursday there was some tactics to be seen when some of the competitors drove more slowly to get a better position for the next day. My team, co-driver Miikka Anttila and I myself decided to drive as usually and maintain the lead. After Thursday I was leading by 30.2 seconds to Sebastien Ogier. Sebastien Loeb was third 31.8 seconds behind me. On Friday morning my team mate Mikko Hirvonen had to retire after cutting too tightly onto a bank. He broke his left front suspension in that. I was the first car on the roads with lots of loose gravel so it was very challenging to drive. On Friday we also drove the longest stage of the whole rally, over 40-kilometre-long Jordan River. This was not only the longest but also the most challenging stage of the rally and it was driven twice. Jordan River wasn’t good for me because I lost over 20 seconds to Loeb both times we drove it and yet on the other stages I was pretty close to him. After a difficult Friday Loeb was leading the race, Ogier was number two 24.6 seconds behind Loeb and I was third 27.7 seconds behind Loeb. On Saturday morning the rally changed radically because of a larger scale tactics: Ogier started as the first car taking time penalty on purpose, Loeb started as the second car, Hirvonen (SuperRally) took the third place and I was number four. The reason for all this tactics was to get better driving positions but this was not good sportsmanship any more. I tried to give Loeb some pressure on the first stage of the morning so eagerly that I had a couple of events on the way but still I lost 0.4 seconds. After this first stage I concentrated on driving as number two in the rally because I no longer had Ogier competing with me; now my worst threat was Petter Solberg. He attacked on the second stage of the morning and was now only 12.7 seconds behind me but luckily I was able to increase my lead. Finally everything went as planned and I finished second. Loeb won and Petter Solberg was third. I was very pleased with my position and so was my team.

I have a new roll for the season of 2010: I am supporting Mikko Hirvonen to get the title and I am collecting points for the team to win the manufacture’s title. This roll is only for this season and it gives me a chance to try and make my driving more balanced. The season started in Sweden – the previous time when Sweden started the rally season was in 1996. The conditions were very snowy and the temperature was below zero but the roads weren’t icy. In fact there was only a thin layer of ice on the surface of the roads. This meant varying conditions: snow, ice, gravel and mixture. On Thursday we had a Super special on a horse race track in Karlstad but the actual rally started on Friday morning. We drove a forest stage in Likenäs. I started a bit cautiously when trying to drive fast but without bigger risks. After the second stage of the race I was fourth 4.1 seconds behind leading Loeb. On Friday I lost a few seconds on each stage but fortunately I was lucky enough to drive one fastest time in the afternoon. I had no bigger problems during the day but one crossroads went too long and I had to back up. After Friday Hirvonen was leading, Loeb was second, Sordo third and I was number four 21.1 seconds behind Sordo. On Saturday I tried to give Sordo some pressure but it seemed that he was getting away. My car felt under steering and my driving position wasn’t the best possible. In the afternoon service we changed the set up of the car a bit (from the rear) and we improved my driving position. After that I started to drive better and now I was able to catch Sordo second by second. In the evening before the last stage of the day I was 9.4 seconds behind Sordo. And we went to the forest stage of Fredriksberg where I managed to drive the fastest time. Sordo had some trouble with his car which overheated because of some plastics they had forgotten to take off from the radiator. He lost about a minute on that. Now I was third in the rally. On Sunday my instructions were to take the car unharmed to the finish in third position which I did. The day was a success and I even managed to save the tyres even though the staged on Sunday were very bad, pure gravel instead of snow. This offered me a chance to drive two fastest times. Mikko Hirvonen kept his first place and won the rally. Loeb was number two. This was a great start of the season for our team and I myself was very pleased since the last good start for the season for me was five years ago.

Invalid Displayed Gallery