Sweden’s sister rally, Rally Norway, has begun today. Being only 200km away from Sweden, it’s the first time the World Rally Championship holds an event in Norway, which is also Petter Solberg’s birthplace. It’s an important rally for the Subaru World Rally team, because it will be their last time driving the Subaru WRC06. Next month in Mexico, they will unveil the new Subaru WRC07, which should help the team greatly for the upcoming rallies. As for Rally Norway, you can expect more snow, ice and cold temperatures. Whereas Sweden was all about speed, the route in Norway is significantly tighter and more twisting.
Petter Solberg:
“It’s going to be a very special event for me. Already things are building up ahead of the rally, there have been lots of press interviews in the last two days and people I know are arriving here for the event. I won’t really have a home advantage because I have never seen these stages before. It is completely new for me, as it is for all the other drivers. It felt positive to lead in Sweden and Chris showed in Sweden that when the stages are covered in lots of snow and ice we can set fastest stage times. So we need those conditions and have to hope there is not too much gravel showing through when we use the stages for the second time. It’s going to be incredible to see all the fans supporting me and the team. It’s difficult to say much about how I will feel about it until I get out on the stages, but I’m looking forward to it so much.”
Chris Atkinson:
“I have some idea what to expect because we did the recce for Rally Norway last year, although many of the stages we drove have been reversed this time. I think it is going to be a pretty exciting rally, because the stages were great last year, although a lot more technical than those in Sweden. There was a lot of snow and ice and some of the snow banks lining the stages were as much as two metres high, so it was like driving through a tunnel. We were quite happy with our pace in Sweden against some drivers who have a lot more experience of that event. In Norway everyone should be on the same level in terms of knowledge of the stages. Our approach to this rally will be the same as in Sweden: we’ll start steadily and gradually build our pace. Hopefully we’ll get the fifth or sixth place we should have had there.”
Source: SWRT