Rally Norway – day 1

- It’s good to finally compete again. We are having so much fun out there. And all the spectators and the beautiful weather are just completing it all, Petter says with the old spark in his eyes.

Yesterday’s good result at the superspecial gave the brand new Petter Solberg World Rally Team a perfect start on its first rally. In front of thousands of spectators Petter and Phil really drove in to the fastest time on the first stage of the rally. – This is unbelievable, and proves that everything is possible, said a laughing Petter after the finish-line.

A good fifth position is the new team’s result after the first day. – With only two days of testing, I think it is quite impressing to get this result. But, after the remote service, Petter struggled to find the grip. – I chose to only bring one spare tyre in the car, and that was a wrong decision. My plan was to save some weight with only one extra, but instead it caused me problems with the grip. Changing two tires would make the balance better.

Rally Norway continues tomorrow with 8 more stages. First car is on the road at 07:53.

Overall classification day 1

1. Loeb, Citroen
2. Hirvonen, Ford +2,6
3. Latvala, Ford +26,2
4. Sordo, Citroen +1.08,6
5. Petter, Citroen +1.31,5
6. PG Anderson, Skoda +1.31,6
7. Henning Solberg, Ford +1.39,4
8. Wilson, Ford +2.03,3