Petter is ready for shakedown

After two days with recce in Wales, Petter Solberg went to bed tonight, smiling. He said the stages were extremely muddy because of all the rain, and he are really looking forward to start on Friday. Tomorrow at 0800 hrs is everything set for Petter to start shakedown, and the final adjustments. Shakedown is run on a 3,9km closed road in Penllergaer Forest, just a few minutes from the servicepark at Felindre outstide Swansea. The drivers can run the shakedown stage as many times as they wish, just as long as they are finished before 1200. The conditions of the shakedown stage should reflect what can be expected out on the stages during the weekend, and it is the team’s final chance to make sure everything on the car works correctly in rallyspeed. Most drivers go through once and then head back to the servicepark for adjustments, and then they make their second run through. We hear a lot about setting the fastest time on shakedown, but the time does not count.

After finishing the shakedown, Petter does a lot of interviews tomorrow, before he heads up to Cardiff in the afternoon. And there is a lot going on in Cardiff tomorrow, you can even find a little piece of Norway! At 1700 Rally Norway hosts a presentation of the event in Norway in 2007, with Norwegian drivers present. At 1830 there is an autograph session with all the drivers in Cardiff Rally Village, and the ceremonial start is held at 1930. All times are local times. Outside Millenium Stadium the organizers has build a giant Rally Village, and already Wednesday afternoon there were lots of people there. Millenium Stadium is a spectacular building hosting Rugbyfinals, Speedway competitions and Rally. 25.000 spectators will be there on Saturday night watching the special stage inside the stadium.

This year is the 62nd running of the Rally, and the rally is one of Britain’s biggest sporting event. For 2006 they have 118 entries, with Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen being the youngest to start.