Rally Norway: Subaru leg two summary

The Subaru World Rally Team ended the second day of Rally Norway in a podium position, thanks to Petter Solberg, who battled through fierce weather to move into third place behind Mikko Hirvonen and Marcus Gronholm. The Norwegian and navigator Phil Mills stuck to their pre-rally strategy and maintained a steady pace, which paid dividends when they moved past a troubled Sebastien Loeb on SS12. Chris Atkinson and Glenn Macneall endured a tough start to the day and dropped out of the top ten after they had a spin and got stuck in a snowdrift. After that the Australian duo focused on building snow rally experience.

Stage summaries

SS9: 0809HRS ELVERUM 1 (44.28KM)

The crews left service at the Viking Ship in Hamar as dawn was breaking and headed out to the longest, most demanding test of the rally. The temperature was about minus 1.5 Celsius and a great amount of fresh snow had fallen overnight. The wet, slushy snow made conditions treacherous. Petter's 25m 35.6s effort was the fourth fastest time through the stage and maintained his fourth position in the rally standings. Chris, however, was out of luck. About 18km into the stage he spun off into a snow bank and got stuck at the edge of the road. The Australian said: "There were huge amounts of snow up there. Even in the middle of the stage there was 10cm of snow. The car just went around on a slow corner and we got stuck on the edge of the road. We had to wait for a long time for some spectators to push us out." Although his Impreza WRC2006 was undamaged, the incident cost him about 16 minutes and he dropped out of the top ten.
Fastest time: Mikko Hirvonen (Ford) 24m 40.3s

SS10: 0923HRS TERNINGMOEN (12.71KM)

After the tough 44km challenge of Elverum, the Subaru World Rally Team crews drove a 10km road section to get to the next test. Even though Terningmoen was geographically close to SS9, the route could not have been more different: the cars blasted along the access roads of a military range, before turning onto a quick and flowing section towards the finish. Petter was fifth quickest through the test with a time of 8m 12.2s, but put more distance between himself and his two closest rivals, Gigi Galli and Henning Solberg. Toni Gardemeister was quicker than Petter through the stage, but had fallen out of contention due to a spin on SS9. Meanwhile Chris played himself back in carefully after his problem on the previous stage and set a time of 8m 27.9s. He was now 14th overall. After the stage the crews returned to the Viking Ship in Hamar for the first main service of the day.
Fastest time: Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) 7m 59.1s

SS11: 1205HRS MOUNTAIN 1 (24.36KM)

After service the drivers travelled north to tackle one of the most distinctive stages of the rally -- a narrow, fast road surrounded by tall snow banks. The conditions were tough on the crews, with heavy snow and wind making visibility so poor that drivers could barely make out the corners ahead of them on the stage, forcing them to rely almost completely on their pacenotes. Fresh snow on the route also made the stage slippery. Petter set a time of 15m 26.6s and said: "I just didn't have any traction. It was very difficult." Nevertheless, he maintained his fourth position overall. Chris came through the stage in 16m 09.7s.
Fastest time: Hirvonen (Ford) 14m 01.8s

SS12: 1306HRS LILLEHAMMER (5.98KM)

The heavy snow continued as the crews drove the 28km road section to the Lillehammer spectator stage, a short blast that ended next to the area's ski resort. Visibility was extremely poor as the top cars negotiated the second half of the test. The big news from this stage was that Petter moved up from fourth to third position after Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb stopped mid-stage for eight minutes. Petter also showed improved pace compared to SS11. He set the third fastest time, 4m 38.2s, and pulled out a few more seconds over his brother Henning, who was now his closest challenger, 12.9s behind. Chris was tenth fastest through the stage after a steady run.
Fastest time: Marcus Gronholm (Ford) 4m 33.9s

SS13: 1400HRS RINGSAKER 1 (27.31KM)

From Lillehammer, the drivers headed south for the penultimate stage of the day and faced even more extreme conditions. The first half of the test was shrouded in fog and fresh snow. Petter resumed his fight for third with his brother Henning and although he was slightly slower through the stage, the Subaru driver remained in the final podium position. Petter's effort of 16m 45.0s placed him fourth quickest through the section. Chris came through in 17m 18.6s (ninth fastest) and was just glad to make it to the end. He said: "There's so much snow! It's the first time I've ever driven in these conditions. It's good learning for me, but there's no way I can match the speed of the more experienced guys."
Fastest time: Gronholm (Ford) 16m 29.7s

SS14: 1510HRS HAMAR 1 (1.15KM)

The shortest test of Rally Norway was an end-of-leg treat for the spectators. It sliced a tree-lined route through a park in the city of Hamar and included a couple of tight, narrow hairpins. It wasn't snowing in Hamar by the time the crews reached the stage via a 20km road section. In front of huge crowds and banners bearing the slogan 'Heia Petter!' (Go Petter!), the Norwegian set a time of 1m 15.4s, more than half a second faster than his brother Henning. That meant he remained in a solid third position at the end of the second leg, 9.9s ahead of Henning, with Sunday's four stages between him and a popular podium finish on his home event. In the other Subaru World Rally Team Impreza WRC2006, Chris negotiated the parkland section in 1m 18.0s.
Fastest time: Gronholm (Ford) 1m 13.8s

Team quotes

Subaru World Rally Team Managing Director, Richard Taylor: "We're delighted to see Petter up onto the podium now. It certainly looks like he will have an interesting battle with his brother tomorrow, because the pair of them are separated by just under ten seconds. Chris has had a difficult day with a car that hasn't felt right underneath him. It has been quite hard work and he's dropped quite a long way back after the off on the opening stage this morning. The task for him for the rest of the rally will be to learn as much as he can about driving in these conditions."

Petter Solberg: "I thought there would be a chance that one of the guys in front of me would hit trouble because they were all setting a very fast pace. Our strategy of taking it easy has worked, although since the Mountain stage earlier today we have had some traction problems. I struggled, particularly on the last two stages of the day. I've been fighting so hard to set some good times and we made it to the end of the leg and now we can try to solve this issue. My plan for tomorrow is to make my third place secure. Henning is quite close because I lost a lot of time to him on the Mountain stage, but I hope we can keep him behind us tomorrow. It depends who has the right studded tyres for the conditions."

Chris Atkinson: "Today has been quite tricky for us. I've never driven in that much snow before. We tried to maintain our position from the start of the leg but a small mistake cost us some time because we went off and took a while to get out of a snow bank. In these conditions I haven't been had quite the level of confidence that I need to set fast times. It's disappointing to have lost so much time, but the task for Sunday is to finish all four stages and get some more experience of driving on snow and ice."

Tomorrow's leg

The final day of Rally Norway comprises just 97.10km of competitive stages. All four tests are repeats of ones already tackled by the crews during this event. After a second run through the 1.15km Hamar spectator stage, the event finishes with a sting in the tail in the form of another attempt at the 44.28km Elverum section. The official finish of the event takes place in Hamar at 1500hrs.

-credit: subaru