MICHELIN Preview Rally Sweden 2016 EN.Pdf
MEDIA INFORMATION FIA World Rally Championship 2016 Rally Sweden – 2nd race MICHELIN X-Ice North 3 : a special tyre for the Nordic event of the season Normally, Rally Sweden is the only round of the FIA World Rally Championship to take place in totally wintry conditions. It is generally also the event which poses the fewest problems in terms of tyre choice. This year, however, the MICHELIN X-Ice North 3 and its 384 studs will need to deliver in conditions that are far from traditional. After the wide variety of stages featured on last month’s Rallye Monte-Carlo, the Swedish fixture tends to offer a more uniform terrain, with iced-over gravel tracks and, very often, snowy lanes lined by snow walls on which the drivers tend to lean when cornering. This time round, abnormally mild weather (zero degrees to almost 10°C in places) and heavy rain over the past week or so have made a certain number of the initially-planned stages impracticable. The organisers have consequently been compelled to shorten their event which will now feature just 13 stages instead of 21, a decision that has slashed the total competitive distance from a little more than 300km to 241km, and the overall route length from 1,500km to 1,396km. This evening’s originally-scheduled super-special at Karlstad’s hippodrome was the first victim of this choice, which means that competitive action will finally begin with SS2 – Torsby, a little longer than 16km - at 8:51am Friday. Friday’s SS5 and SS6, Saturday’s SS11, SS13 and SS15 and Sunday’s SS18 and SS19 have all been chopped, too.
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