MAKINEN AND MARLBORO MITSUBISHI RALLIART FIGHT FOR VICTORY

FIA World Rally Championship

Round 2 - International Swedish Rally (10-13 February)

Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart driver Tommi Makinen has been in the thick of an intense battle during the second leg of the International Swedish Rally. The Finnish four-times World Champion has been dicing with Colin McRae and Thomas Radstrom over today's 153 competitive kilometres and finished back in Karlstad this evening in second position, 26 seconds adrift of overnight leader Marcus Gronholm in the Peugeot. Mitsubishi Carisma GT team-mate Freddy Loix has moved up the leaderboard to 10th position.

Leaving Karlstad early this morning, the crews were faced with rain and temperatures hovering around 3 degrees, however the wet conditions have done little to dampen the enthusiasm of the thousands of spectators who have thronged to the stages to witness their heroes in action.

Makinen, co-driven by Risto Mannisenmaki, paced himself this morning, not entirely comfortable with the conditions, but was soon setting the pace in the Lancer Evolution. He set a string of second-fastest times through stages 11, 12 and 13, despite narrowly escaping disaster in the last of these tests. Second again through the repeated Skog test, eight seconds faster than McRae, secured second position overall and the Finn rounded off the day in fine form by setting the quickest time over the 2 kilometre floodlit super special stage at the Lugnet ski stadium.

"The first stage was not so good," said Tommi. "I made some little mistakes and thought there would be better grip. We chose a harder suspension which was also not the best. In stage 13 we went off twice, were very lucky to continue and also broke three wheel rims, although Michelin's anti-deflation mousse kept the tyres perfectly formed. Marcus is quite far in front, but with 100 kilometres tomorrow we will see what happens - he is very fast though and I think it will be difficult to beat him. Tomorrow's stages are fast and nice and I like them very much so we definitely go for a full attack as obviously I would like to win."

Team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets, driving the Mitsubishi Carisma GT, have moved up the leaderboard into 10th position. The Belgians have however not felt 100 per cent happy with the transmission system throughout the day and reverted back to yesterday's gearbox when they arrived at the final service this evening. Freddy nevertheless set sixth fastest time in the penultimate stage of the day and is now less than eight seconds away from overhauling SEAT driver Didier Auriol in eighth position.

"The penultimate stage tonight was better the second time around, but the car is not turning the way I want it," commented Freddy. "We'll make some changes tonight and hope it goes well tomorrow. We try our best on the last day, especially to get Markko Martin (Toyota) and Didier Auriol (SEAT) behind us."

Phil Short, Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager added: "We have made good progress today and are in a strong position to get a good result. Anything is possible with the pressure at the front of the leaderboard."

The third and final leg of the International Swedish Rally starts from Karlstad tomorrow at 07:20 hrs (GMT+1). The 426 kilometre route takes the competing crews north to Hagfors for the concluding five stages and 96 competitive kilometres.

POSITIONS AFTER STAGE 15 (END OF DAY TWO)