Is Harri up for another win in Sweden?

Harri Rovanperä and Risto Pietiläinen aim at repeating their 2001 Sweden win

Harri and Risto competed in their first WRC rally with Peugeot equipment and took home their first WRC event win. Last year's second has left a persistent little nagging, even though the team got a significant double win.

The 2002 rally began with a tight fight between the previous year's winners Marcus Grönholm and Harri Rovanperä: after the first leg, Grönholm was only 0.9 seconds ahead of his teammate.

But, as Harri recounts the critical moments of the rally, the final configuration of the top two was established at the beginning of the second leg: "At the end of the first day and the beginning of the second day, our car's hydraulic accelerator was acting up, so we ended up half a minute behind 'Bosse' (Grönholm). When Colin McRae hit a stone in the seventh stage, then it seemed smartest to just shoot for the finish in second."

Peugeot is looking for its fourth consecutive win in Sweden, but Rovanperä doesn't think it will come easily: "It's obvious that the other teams also want to win. Tommi and Petteri didn't get any points in Monte and I'm sure they'll want to get to the podium. Carlos also has had a lot of second places in Sweden, so he'll be driving hard too. Well, it'll all be resolved by Sunday."

The WRC series is just beginning
Harri is starting this rally season with confidence, even though he doesn't start competing until the second event:

"As far as I'm concerned, the Monte Carlo results haven't really affected the overall results for the season. Citroen is going to put up some tough competition for our team this year, but their strength hasn't been tested on gravel yet."

In addition to Sweden, Harri will start in at least eight other gravel rallies, all of which he has a shot at winning assuming that all goes well:

"Sweden is - in addition to Finland, Argentina, and Spain - one of my favorite rallies, so it would be nice to get a successful start to the season."