07 Feb 13

Rally Sweden
‘dream heats’
revealed

Tonight's rally opening head-to-head stage in Karlstad will feature 'dream heats' between three pairs of drivers suggested by fans on Rally Sweden’s Facebook page.

The fans’ votes have led to two national battles between former team-mates, and a thrilling Scandinavian clash between two young drivers from Sweden and Norway. The dream heats are:

Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) versus Sebastien Ogier (Volkswagen)

Mikko Hirvonen (Citroen) versus Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford)

Mads Østberg (Ford) versus Pontus Tidemand (Ford)

Rally Sweden press officer Håkan Tonér said nominations had been received from rally fans from around the world.

“The most popular wish was a meeting between the two Frenchmen Loeb and Ogier. They were number one and two in the first round in Rallye Monte-Carlo and will no doubt be fighting in the top here too.”

“The second most popular choice was a battle between Finns Hirvonen and Latvala - the two former Ford team-mates now representing Citroen and Volkswagen. Finally, fans wanted a local fight – and we’ve got that with the hottest Norwegian and Swedish drivers Mads Østberg and Pontus Tidemand.”

Thousands of spectators are expected to watch the stage in Färjestadstravet that gets underway at 20:04hrs.

Here is how all the WRC crews will line-up:

20.04hrs: Hasse Gustafsson, SWE-Oleksii Tamrazov, UKR
20.07hrs: Matt Wilson, GBR-Henning Solberg, NOR.
20.10hrs: Michal Kosciuszko, POL-Martin Prokop, CZE.
20.13hrs: Khalid Al-Qassimi, UAE-Thierry Neuville, BEL.
20.16hrs: Juho Hänninen, FIN-Jari Ketomaa, FIN.
20.19hrs: Evgeny Novikov, RUS-Daniel Sordo, ESP.
20.22hrs: Mikko Hirvonen, FIN-Jari-Matti Latvala, FIN.
20.25hrs: Mads Østberg, NOR-Pontus Tidemand, SWE.
20.28hrs: Sébastien Loeb, FRA-Sébastien Ogier, FRA.
20.31hrs: Jarkko Nikara, FIN-Sepp Wiegand, GER