Rally Norway...

[Matra-Rancho]

Hi,

after the first day M.Grönholm or S.Loeb are not in the lead... after a long time we have a new face in the lead: M.Hirvinen.

From Eurosport.com:

Mikko Hirvonen maintained his pace brilliantly to end day one of Rally Norway in the lead.
The 26-year-old Finn, who is chasing his first victory of the 2007 season, was not fastest on any of the afternoon stages but still drove with enough speed to extend his lead over his Ford team-mate Marcus Gronholm to 15.5 seconds.

World champion Sebastien Loeb was the star of the afternoon, as he won the last three stages in his Citroen and closed in to lie just 1.8 seconds behind Gronholm at the close of play.

Petter Solberg moved up three places to fourth in his Subaru. The 2003 world champion set top-four times all afternoon to move ahead of Gigi Galli and Toni Gardemeister, and then benefited when his brother Henning spun on stage six.

MMSP Mitsubishi driver Gardemeister lies fifth with Galli's PH Sport Citroen sixth and the Stobart Ford of the elder Solberg just a second behind in seventh.

Manfred Stohl was in a positive frame of mind for the first time all season after ending the day eighth for Kronos Citroen, while the opposite was true of Chris Atkinson who lies ninth in his Subaru.

Jari-Matti Latvala ended the day in tenth, but his position does not even begin to tell his story.

The Finn was fourth after two stages, but dropped to 15th after he incurred a 90-second penalty for clocking out of service late following a delayed driveshaft change.

Fastest time on stage five left him in confident mood, 14 seconds behind Atkinson, and 7.9 clear of Swede Daniel Carlsson's Kronos car.

Results Day 1:

01. M. Hirvonen / J. Lehtinen Ford A8..................... 1:24.39,0
02. M. Grönholm / T. Rautiainen Ford A8..................1:24.54,5...+ 0:15,5
03. S. Loeb / D. Elena Citroën C-4 A8......................1:24.56,3...+ 0:17,3
04. P. Solberg / P. Mills Subaru A8..........................1:25.40,5...+ 1:01,5
05. T. Gardemeister / J. Honkanen Mitsubishi A8..... ..1:25.59,2...+ 1:20,2
06. G. Galli / G. Bernacchini Citroën Xsara A8.............1:26.05,2...+ 1:26,2
07. H. Solberg / C. Menkerud Ford A8......................1:26.06,2...+ 1:27,2
08. J. Latvala / M. Antilla Ford A8...........................1:26.33,6...+ 1:54,6
09. M. Stohl / I. Minor Citroën Xsara A8....................1:26.35,9...+ 1:56,9
10. C. Atkinson / G. Macneall Subaru A8..................1:26.49,6...+ 2:10,6
11. D. Carlsson / D. Giraudet Citroën Xsara A8...........1:27.11,5...+ 2:32,5
12. J. Hänninen / M. Markkula Mitsubishi A8..............1:27.33,9...+ 2:54,9
13. M. Østberg / K. Unnerud Subaru A8...................1:27.46,4...+ 3:07,4
14. D. Sordo / M. Marti Citroën C-4 A8.....................1:27.47,0...+ 3:08,0
15. A. Mikkelsen / O. Floene Ford A8.......................1:28.51,7...+ 4:12,7

regards MR

[Matra-Rancho]

Hi,

after the second day Hirvonen is still in the lead. The question is, is Hirvonen allowed to win or not? Loeb make two mistakes and had no chance to win the rally. So the Solberg brothers have a fight for the third place.

From Eurosport.com:

Mikko Hirvonen is on course for his first victory of the season after ending day two of Rally Norway with a 19.3 second lead over his Ford team-mate Marcus Gronholm.

The 26-year-old Finn showed supreme skill behind the wheel as the crews tackled what many described as the most difficult stages they had ever seen on the world championship.
And he ended the day with a lead that was more or less identical to that which he began the afternoon with.
But Hirvonen is not however, planning to let up, even though Ford team orders may dictate a 'no-pushing' policy on Sunday.

Gronholm could have been closer but for an incident on stage 12 where he overshot a junction and lost five seconds turning his Focus back around.

But while he lost only seconds, championship leader Sebastien Loeb saw his rally ruined when he made a rare mistake and did the same thing on stage but found his Citroen lodged in a snow bank.
The incident cost him eight minutes as he waited for spectators to push the car back onto the road, and he lost the same amount of time again on the very next stage when he crashed yet again (see separate story) leaving him 18th.

Loeb's misfortune moved Norway's favourite sons Petter and Henning Solberg into a battle for third, with Petter's Subaru just nine seconds ahead of Henning's Stobart Ford.

Fifth is Jari-Matti Latvala, who set some sensational times during the day in his Stobart Ford, while sixth is Austrian Manfred Stohl in his Kronos Citroen. Both are on course for their best finishes of the year.

Dropping to seventh after a trip into a snow bank on stage 12 is Gigi Galli's PH Sport Citroen, while Xavier Pons was superb during the day as he moved up to eighth in his MMSP Mitsubishi.

Rounding out the top ten were Daniel Carlsson's Kronos Citroen who was passed by Stohl on stage 13, and Jan Kopecky after an excellent day in his privateer Skoda.

The earlier retirements of Mads Ostberg, Matthew Wilson and Dani Sordo, and huge time losses for Toni Gardemeister and Chris Atkinson, moved Rune Dalsjo and Patrik Flodin onto the fringes of the leaderboard.

Results Day 2:

01. M. Hirvonen / J. Lehtinen Ford A8..................2:33.45,2
02. M. Grönholm / T. Rautiainen Ford A8..............2:34.04,5...+ 0:19,3
03. P. Solberg / P. Mills Subaru A8......................2:37.33,5...+ 3:48,3
04. H. Solberg / C. Menkerud Ford A8..................2:37.43,4...+ 3:58,2
05. J. Latvala / M. Antilla Ford A8.......................2:39.02,1...+ 5:16,9
06. M. Stohl / I. Minor Citroën Xsara A8...............2:39.56,3...+ 6:11,1
07. G. Galli / G. Bernacchini Citroën Xsara A8........2:40.06,9...+ 6:21,7
08. X. Pons / X. Amigo Mitsubishi A8...................2:41.47,0...+ 8:01,8
09. D. Carlsson / D. Giraudet Citroën Xsara A8......2:42.08,5...+ 8:23,3
10. J. Kopecky / F. Schovanek Skoda A8.............2:43.28,3...+ 9:43,1
11. R. Dalsjø / J. Løvhøiden Subaru A8................2:44.20,5...+ 10:35,3
12. P. Flodin / M. Andersson Subaru N4...............2:45.37,0...+ 11:51,8
13. A. Mikkelsen / O. Floene Ford A8...................2:45.43,2...+ 11:58,0
14. E. Brynildsen / V. Engan Mitsubishi N4............2:46.33,1...+ 12:47,9
15. J. Hänninen / M. Markkula Mitsubishi A8..........2:46.35,7...+ 12:50,5
...
18. S. Loeb / D. Elena Citroën C-4 A8..................2:51.40,1...+ 17:54,9

regards MR

[Pero_Grozni]

Excelent - Mikko finnaly managed to outpace Marcus. That will be a huge boost for him. Tommorow I reckon they will finnish as they are now. No sence in going for it and also no real sence to give the win to Marcus - he will get the lead of the championship and will have a great base for the remaining events.
Surely they must be kicking themselves at Subaru for sacking Mikko a few years back.

[Matra-Rancho]

Hello,

Rally Norway is finished now and Hirvonen wins. Teammate Grönholm takes the second place (+9.5sec.). Henning Solberg has overtaken his brother Petter and gets third place. Best Citroen is G.Galli (Pirelli) on sixth place.

from Eurosport.com:

Finland's Mikko Hirvonen held off Ford team-mate Marcus Gronholm to win the Rally of Norway by just 9.5 seconds.

Gronholm claimed the lead in the driver's standings from Sebastien Loeb, who struggled to recover from a disastrous second leg on Saturday when he got caught in a snow bank on stage 12. Hirvonen is now second in the driver's standings.

Ford completed a clean sweep as Hirvonen, Gronholm and Henning Solberg took the podium positions in that order.

Solberg takes the family bragging rights from his brother Petter, who finished fourth on the weekend at 16.5 seconds behind his brother.

Gronholm nearly closed the gap on his compatriot by winning the 18th and final stage, but Hirvonen was able to finish fourth during the 44.27-km trip through the snow in Eleverum at 8.9 seconds in back of Gronholm to secure the victory.

Ford move from second-place into top spot in the constructors championship at the expense of Citroen Total, who experienced some bad luck on Saturday when world champion Loeb crashed on two consecutive stages.

The Frenchman finished first in stages 15 and 17 earlier on Sunday morning to finish the weekend at 14th overall at 18 minutes and 13.4 seconds behind Hirvonen.

"Fantastic rally, absolutely fantastic," Hirvonen told Norwegian broadcaster NRK, saying he considered the win more important than his first championship triumph in Australia last year.

"For me this is a real victory. I would say in Australia it came a little bit easy.

"I had such a good weekend (here) and was fighting all the way. I really enjoy it when you need to push hard. Against Sebastian and Marcus, to win is an incredible feeling."

Results Day 3:

01. M. Hirvonen / J. Lehtinen Ford A8...............3:28.17,0
02. M. Grönholm / T. Rautiainen Ford A8...........3:28.26,5...+ 0:09,5
03. H. Solberg / C. Menkerud Ford A8...............3:32.01,6...+ 3:44,6
04. P. Solberg / P. Mills Subaru A8...................3:32.18,1...+ 4:01,1
05. J. Latvala / M. Antilla Ford A8....................3:33.47,7...+ 5:30,7
06. G. Galli / G. Bernacchini Citroën A8..............3:35.22,2...+ 7:05,2
07. D. Carlsson / D. Giraudet Citroën A8............3:37.40,7...+ 9:23,7
08. J. Kopecky / F. Schovanek Skoda A8...........3:40.06,9...+ 11:49,9
09. R. Dalsjø / J. Løvhøiden Subaru A8..............3:41.48,8...+ 13:31,8
10. A. Mikkelsen / O. Floene Ford A8.................3:42.45,7...+ 14:28,7
11. P. Flodin / M. Andersson Subaru N4............3:44.17,2...+ 16:00,2
12. M. Stohl / I. Minor Citroën A8.....................3:45.21,6...+ 17:04,6
13. E. Brynildsen / V. Engan Mitsubishi N4..........3:45.35,0...+ 17:18,0
14. S. Loeb / D. Elena Citroën A8.....................3:46.30,4...+ 18:13,4
15. T. Linnerud / R. Engen Peugeot A8..............3:46.43,9...+ 18:26,9

Next Rally: Corona Rally Mexico 09.Mar. - 11.Mar.07

regards MR