Rally Norway

16th February 2009

Citroen ace Sebastien Loeb turned up the heat to win a chilly Rally Norway.

The defending champion held off a determined challenge by Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen to take victory by less than 10 seconds after three days of competition.

The leading pair challenged for the lead throughout the event, consigning Hirvonen’s team mate Jarri-Matti Latvala to a distant third place. The young Finn struggled with to match the pace of the front-runners, but managed secure valuable manufacturer points after an accident last time out in Ireland ruled him out of the scoring positions.

Further down the field, Petter Solberg suffered mixed fortunes on his home event. The 2003 world champ set the quickest time on the opening stage in his privately entered Citroen Xsara, but had to settle for sixth place at the flag.

His brother Henning had a better rally, bringing his Ford Focus home in fourth place, just ahead of Dani Sordo’s factory backed Citroen C4.

Stobart Ford’s Matthew Wilson upheld British honour by completing the rally in a strong seventh position, while Estonian Urmo Aava took the final championship point.

But it was Loeb who had the most to celebrate. “It’s been a great rally but a very difficult one”, said the five-time champ. “I had to push on the limit from the very first stage to the last, and mentally it’s been difficult to keep pushing, knowing we could lose everything right up until the last corner. I really wanted to win here on snow and it’s a great feeling. It’s been a wonderful rally; the stages are incredible and it’s so much more exiting when you are in a close fight!

Next time out the teams will swap snow for sunshine as they prepare for Rally Cyprus on 13 March.