1973 Swedish Rally

The 1973 Swedish Rally (formally the 24th International Swedish Rally) was the second round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Run in mid-February around Karlstad, Sweden, the rally was the only snow and ice rally of the WRC calendar, a distinction it would keep as it remained a fixture of the WRC through the years. Only in 2007 would it finally be joined on the schedule by a second snow rally in Norway.

Report

In 1973, and for several years afterward, only manufacturers were given points for finishes in WRC events. After the Alpine A110s dominated the earlier Monte Carlo Rally, Sweden was instead taken by Swedish drivers Stig Blomqvist and Per Eklund, both driving Swedish-built Saab 96 V4 cars. While Jean-Luc Thérier did get an Alpine onto the podium in third place, it was the only such car to finish and he was one of only two drivers not of Scandinavian nationality to complete the race.

Results

1973 Swedish Rally results
Finish	Total time	Group	Car #	Driver	Car	Mfr. points
Overall	In group
1	1	9 h : 18 m : 31 s	1/2	1	Sweden Stig Blomqvist	Saab 96 V4	20
2	2	9 h : 20 m : 53 s	1/2	7	Sweden Per Eklund	Saab 96 V4
3	1	9 h : 34 m : 12 s	4	11	France Jean-Luc Thérier	Alpine-Renault A110 1800	12
4	2	9 h : 37 m : 14 s	4	3	Sweden Harry Källstrom	Lancia Fulvia 1.6 Coupé HF	10
5	3	9 h : 40 m : 41 s	4	2	Sweden Håkan Lindberg	Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye	8
6	3	9 h : 57 m : 28 s	1/2	4	Sweden Björn Waldegård	Volkswagen 1303S	6
7	4	10 h : 0 m : 58 s	1/2	10	Sweden Bror Danielsson	BMW 2002	4
8	5	10 h : 35 m : 41 s	1/2	18	Norway John Haugland	Škoda 110L	3
9	6	10 h : 36 m : 42 s	1/2	9	Sweden Per-Inge Walfridsson	Volvo 142 S	2
10	7	10 h : 37 m : 22 s	1/2	14	Finland Fredrik Donner	Opel Ascona	1
11	8	10 h : 38 m : 7 s	1/2	33	Sweden Stig Abrahamsson	Saab 96 V4
12	9	10 h : 39 m : 23 s	1/2	28	Sweden Kjell Ivarsson	Saab 96 V4
13	10	10 h : 41 m : 31 s	1/2	13	Sweden Per Tjerneld	Opel Ascona
14	11	10 h : 44 m : 30 s	1/2	8	France Jean-Pierre Nicolas	Renault 12 Gordini
15	12	10 h : 49 m : 25 s	1/2	52	Sweden Sören Bergstedt	Renault 12 Gordini
16	13	10 h : 50 m : 3 s	1/2	64	Norway Per Engseth	Volkswagen 1303S
17	14	11 h : 2 m : 52 s	1/2	17	Finland Hans Sevelius	Alfa Romeo Giulia S
18	15	11 h : 6 m : 50 s	1/2	47	Norway Jan Carlsson	Volvo 142 S
19	16	11 h : 8 m : 21 s	1/2	16	Norway Egil Stenshagen	Datsun Cherry E
20	17	11 h : 12 m : 34 s	1/2	20	Norway Ole Edvin Granberg	BMW 2002
21	18	11 h : 16 m : 9 s	1/2	38	Norway Erik Aaby	Opel Ascona
22	19	11 h : 19 m : 32 s	1/2	45	Norway Bjørn Flygind	Opel Ascona
23	20	11 h : 30 m : 56 s	1/2	57	Sweden Freddy Kottulinsky	Toyota Corolla
24	21	11 h : 38 m : 33 s	1/2	51	Sweden Mats Andersson	Saab 96 V4
25	22	11 h : 41 m : 59 s	1/2	25	Sweden Johnny Lindersson	Volvo 142 S
Retired	4	6	Sweden Ove Andersson	Lancia Fulvia 1.6 Coupé HF
Retired	1/2	12	Sweden Lars Nyström	Volkswagen 1303S
Retired	1/2	18	Sweden Roger Johansson	Saab 96 V4
Retired	1/2	21	France Bernard Darniche	Renault 12 Gordini

Source: Independent WRC archive

Championship standings after the event

1973 World Rally Championship for Manufacturers points standings after round 2
After round 2	Team	Season end
Position	Points	Position	Points
1	32	France Alpine Renault	1	147
2	20	Sweden Saab	5	42
3	13	Italy Lancia	13	17
2	12	Italy Fiat	2	84
6	10	United States Ford	3	76
7	6	Germany Volkswagen	15	15
8	4	Germany BMW	8	28
9	3	Czechoslovakia Škoda	18	3
10	2	Japan Datsun	6	34
11	2	Sweden Volvo	4	44
12	1	Germany Opel	11	25

External links

2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine at 2020-06-27 at the Wayback Machine