March 13, 2007
BFGoodrich^® Tires Blankets the Podium at Swedish Rally
GREENVILLE, S.C.

Grönholm Takes Full Advantage of BFGoodrich Tire Technology to Win Fifth Swedish Rally

After a somewhat disappointing season opener at the Monte Carlo Rally, Marcus Grönholm (Ford/BFGoodrich Tires) retaliated in style in temperatures that dipped as low as 15°C while keeping a blistering pace over the Värmland's snowy lanes to capture the fifth Swedish Rally win of his career last weekend. The victory was also his 26th overall, a mark that ties him with Carlos Sainz as the second most successful driver in WRC history, but he is still three wins short of Sébastien Loeb.

As in 2006, Grönholm succeeded in coming out of his early duel with Sébastien Loeb (Citroën/BFGoodrich Tires) on top. Also like last year, it was a different tire choice (a difference of 0.5mm between the 'normal' and 'long stud' options) that enabled the Finn to pull clear of his archrival. Mikko Hirvonen (Ford/BFGoodrich Tires) also finished on the podium to enable Ford to close on Citroën in the Manufacturers' points going into Rally Norway, a new round in the World Rally Championship which starts next Friday.

The first leg of the Swedish Rally was predominantly icy with relatively little snow cover and it didn't take long for the winners of the last three Swedish Rallies to emerge out front. Peter Solberg (Subaru/BFGoodrich Tires) took control after SS2, but was soon dislodged from top spot by Marcus Grönholm three stages later.

Meanwhile, Sébastien Loeb left Karlstad on Friday morning in an unfamiliar 21st position after he lost time by stalling on the starting line of the previous evening's super special. However, by the end of the leg he was back up to 2nd place and snapping at Grönholm's heels, just 11.1 seconds behind the Finn and 11.5 sec., clear of Solberg.

The following day, however, the threesome was whittled down to a duo when Solberg spent nearly 15 minutes off the road during Saturday's second test. Shortly afterwards, the Norwegian chose to throw in the towel in order to spare his car – and tires – for next weekend's Rally Norway.

Running on different tires, Marcus Grönholm (g-Force Ice 'normal stud') and Sébastien Loeb ('long stud') each claimed a fastest time on Leg 2's first loop of stages, the Frenchman winning the short SS9, while Marcus was quickest over the long SS10 (34km), and just 6/10ths of a second faster than Loeb who, at this stage, was less than 10 sec., from the Finn. However, the following group of stages (SS11/12) saw the rally tip definitively in the Ford driver's favor. Both of the earlier tests had been contested the previous day to determine the maximum grip over the sheet ice and all the BFGoodrich Tires drivers opted for the 'normal stud' option. All, that is, except for Loeb who preferred to stay with 'long' studs. But it was the wrong call and the Frenchman lost practically 30 sec., in two stages, allowing Grönholm to pull out a sizeable gap at the top.

Meanwhile, an equally fierce scrap pitted Henning Solberg, Mikko Hirvonen, Toni Gardemeister and Daniel Carlsson against one another after they completed the first day grouped within just 15 seconds.

In the end, Mikko Hirvonen (3rd) succeeded in outpacing the rest of the group on the afternoon of Day 2 to make it an excellent weekend overall for Ford in Manufacturers' championship terms, while the excellent run of Gardemeister (6th) was spoiled by transmission failure.

Another exciting fight on Sunday morning, Carlsson (5th, Citroën/BFGoodrich) and Atkinson (8th, Subaru/BFGoodrich) battled for the fifth spot, but the Swede ending up coming out on top when the Australian lost time after going off-course on SS18.

Sébastien Loeb (Citroën/BFGoodrich Tires)
"I lost a few seconds at the very beginning of the rally when I stalled at the start of SS1. I also lost time when I was distracted on SS5. Even so, I think the outcome was decided by my poor tire choice on Saturday. It was totally my fault. Since the start, I had been running slightly longer studs than Marcus and it had worked. So I continued with the same choice for SS11 and 12 but this time there was really too much ice for the longer option and I could feel my studs moving in the tread blocks making the car unstable."

Thierry Kindt, BFGoodrich Tires Developer
"The difference between the amount of stud that protrudes from the tread blocks with the g-Force Ice 'normal stud' and 'long stud' options is a mere 0.5mm. That really isn't much but it can make a huge difference! With longer studs, you have a bigger contact patch and the studs strike deeper into the ice. According to tire pressures, between 18 and 20 studs per tire are in contact with the ground at any one time. A difference of just 0.5mm therefore represents a difference in the size of the contact patch of 11 percent, which is considerable. You could be forgiven for thinking that the more the studs protrude from the tire then the more competitive you are going to be. But that's not the case, for three reasons:
1) The way the stud is fixed in the tire. The FIA regulations dictate a maximum overall length for the studs of 2cm. So the more that sticks out from the tire, the less metal there is actually inside the tread block and this increases the risk of them breaking or being pulled out.
2) The way the stud penetrates the ice. Longer studs do not bite entirely into the ice and the car can become uncontrollable.
3) The conditions. For the 'long stud' option to function there must be a sufficiently thick layer of snow."

Matthieu Bonardel, BFGoodrich Rally Manager
"As in 2006, Marcus and Sébastien were neck and neck up to the middle of the second day. From the start, they had been running different tire strategies, with Loeb systematically choosing a slightly 'longer' option than Marcus. This tactic paid off for Sébastien on Day 1 because he was running first on the road, but it wasn't so clear-cut the following day and it was even potentially a handicap for the repeated stages. We were also keen to see how the battle between Carlsson and Galli went. They were driving similar cars but running on different tires. Apart from the Italian's very brief early showing, Daniel Carlsson had the edge over the full weekend. Our tires were very durable and fewer studs came free than they did in 2006. Finally, it's the first time that the drivers have had to think about managing their tire stocks with a view to the next rally and that produced a few surprising choices. For Norway, the priority drivers will have to choose 21 of their list nominated for Sweden."

Statistics: 52nd Swedish Rally, length: 1,732.73km, including 342.09km in stages

Conditions: A small top-coating of snow on ice, temperatures ranging from -4° to -15°C

Tires used: g-Force Ice, three different stud options: 'short stud', 'normal stud', 'long stud'.

Final Standings:
1, Grönholm/Rautiainen (Ford Focus WRC06), 3h 8m 40.7s. 2, Loeb/Elena (Citroën C4 WRC), +53.8s. 3, Hirvonen/Lehtinen(Ford Focus WRC06), +1m 41.5s. 4, Solberg/Menkerud (Ford Focus WRC06), +2m 9.8s. 5, Carlsson/Giraudet (Citroën Xsara WRC), +3m 37.8s. 6, Gardemeister/Honkanen (Mitsubishi Lancer WRC), +3m 54.2s. 7, Stohl/Minor (Citroën Xsara WRC), +5m 12.5s. 8, Atkinson/MacNeall (Subaru Impreza WRC), +6m 14.7s. Etc.

Championship standings:
DRIVERS: 1, S. Loeb (18 points). 2, M. Grönholm (16). 3, M. Hirvonen (10). 4, D. Sordo (8). 5, C. Atkinson (6). 6, H. Solberg (5). Etc.

MANUFACTURERS: 1. Citroën Total WRT (27 points) – 2. BP-Ford WRT (26) – 3. Subaru WRT (10) – 4. OMV Kronos Citroën (9) – Stobart M Sport Ford (6)

Next round: Rally Norway (February 15-18)

BFGoodrich WRC tires: g-Force Ice

Quota: 66 tires/priority driver (including 21 from their Swedish Rally list), 45 of which may be used

Using motorsports as a proving ground for more than 30 years, BFGoodrich^® Tires is involved in every type of racing, including oval, sports car, drifting, drag, desert, dirt, rally (Dakar and WRC) and extreme rock-crawling. BFGoodrich Tires combines technological expertise with vast motorsports experience, delivering a high-performance tire for every type of vehicle. Visit BFGoodrich Tires online at www.bfgoodrichtires.com.