March 2, 2006
BFGoodrich® Tires' Studs Star in the Swedish Snow
GREENVILLE, S.C

The thrilling clash between Marcus Grönholm (Ford/BFGoodrich®) and Sébastien Loeb (Citroën/BFGoodrich) that marked the 2006 Swedish Rally continued all the way to the final stage, eventually ending in the favor of the Grönholm to take his score to a total of four wins on this event.

Despite taking a 10-second penalty on Day one following a problem with his bonnet, Loeb completed the first leg just 10.2 seconds behind Grönholm. However, the following day the Frenchman (Loeb) made two tire choice errors which allowed the ever incisive Grönholm to extend his overnight lead.

On the final morning, Grönholm's Ford Focus was slowed by hydraulics trouble which enabled Loeb closed to within 14 seconds again. But once repairs had been made by his team at service, Grönholm was able to push hard through the rally's final loop of three stages to beat the Xsara driver by 30.9 seconds and claim his 20th WRC win.

The fight for third place between the Mitsubishi pair Gigi Galli and Daniel Carlsson proved equally as exciting and the gap between the two never exceeded 8.4 seconds. In the end, it was the Swedish driver (Carlsson) who joined Grönholm and Loeb on the podium.

The Scandinavian round proved just as troubled as the recent Monte Carlo Rally for last year's Swedish Rally winner Peter Solberg (Subaru) who dropped three minutes on Day 1 with transmission trouble, but was finally excluded for having been pushed.

Marcus Grönholm (Ford BP WRT/BFGoodrich):
"That was a great fight with Seb. I was very pleased with the performance of my BFGoodrich Tires throughout the rally. It's nice to win here in Sweden again."

Sebastien Loeb (Citroën/BFGoodrich):
"To finish second and score eight points is not so bad after my poor tire choices on Saturday. For the last three stages, I made one final effort by fitting 'long' studs at the front and 'normal' studs at the rear. I tried everything, but Marcus was unbeatable this weekend. Despite my tire choice errors, my BFGoodrich tires were extremely competitive and lasted well during the whole rally."

Aimé Chatard (BFGoodrich Rallies Program Manager):
"Its been a great Swedish Rally with icy stages for the first two days and a covering of fresh snow on Sunday morning. These perfect conditions brought out the very best in the drivers, cars and tires. As on the Monte Carlo Rally, tire choice - or rather stud choice - proved critical in the match between Grönholm and Loeb, proving yet again that ice at -15°C and ice at -2°C are completely different for tires. It's exactly the same phenomenon that you get on the Dakar Rally where you can come across very different types of sand."

BFGoodrich Tires Used
BFGoodrich g-Force Ice/long stud: particularly suited to snow-covered stages or stages covered in a mixture of snow and ice. This was the option chosen by Loeb on Friday evening (SS5), by Grönholm on Saturday morning and by the majority of BFGoodrich runners on Sunday.

BFGoodrich g-Force Ice/normal stud: this tire is designed to maintain traction on ice as well as sustain footing on the portions of the course that tend to rut. This is the tire that helped Marcus Grönholm extend his lead over Loeb on Saturday (SS9/10/11).

BFGoodrich News
2 CENTIMETERS... The FIA (Federation Internationale de I'Automobile) specifies a maximum length of 2cm for the studs used for the Swedish Rally. However, it is possible to vary the length of the part of the stud that protrudes from the tread block to match the conditions.

HALF A MILLIMETER... That's the difference between the amount BFGoodrich's 'long' and 'normal' stud options protrude from the tread blocks, yet half a millimeter can change everything: Studs = traction. In an ideal world, the studs would always protrude as much as possible in order to maximize traction. If they protrude too much, however, the tire tends to move about if the stage is long or if the surface is badly deteriorated. Once again, it's all about compromise.

THE IDEAL SOLUTION... The ideal solution would be to have variable protruding studs. In fact having a 'fixed' stud is like a driver having to cover an entire stage with the accelerator pedal blocked in the same position from start to finish, a 'normal' stud would be like having half throttle and a 'long' stud would be like having 'full' throttle.

ASPHALT GRIP... Just forty or so studs are in contact with the ground at any one time when the car is in movement. Yet the amount of grip these tungsten tips provide is equivalent to something between the grip drivers enjoy on wet and dry asphalt.

BONDING... The challenge faced by BFGoodrich's engineers is finding the best way to bond the rigid metal studs inside the highly flexible rubber tread blocks. This is effectively one of the main keys to success in Sweden.

Championship Classifications (BFGoodrich partner drivers and teams in bold)
DRIVERS 1. Grönholm, 20 pts - 2. Loeb, 16 pts - 3. Gardemeister & Carlsson, 6 pts - 5. Stohl & Galli, 5 pts...
MANUFACTURERS 1. BP-Ford WRT, 26 pts - 2. Kronos Total Citroën, 24 pts - 3. OMV-Peugeot Norway, 10 pts - 4. Subaru, 8 pts - 5. VK-Stobart, 7 pts - 6. Red Bull Skoda, 3 pts.

Next round: Rally Mexico (March 3-5, 2006)

BFGoodrich® Tires combines technological expertise with vast motorsports experience, delivering a high-performance tire for every type of vehicle from ultra-high performance tuner vehicles, sports cars and SUVs to the hottest sport trucks, pickups and rock-crawling rigs in the world. For more than 30 years, BFGoodrich Tires has used motorsports as a proving ground.

Success on the street begins with winning on the track and BFGoodrich Tires is involved in every type of racing, including oval, sports car, drag, desert, rally (Dakar and WRC) and extreme rock-crawling. With 20 consecutive Baja 1000 wins, the most wins in rock-crawling history, and an unmatched record on pavement, BFGoodrich Tires has proven the only records it breaks are its own. Visit BFGoodrich Tires online at www.bfgoodrichtires.com.