Rally Norway

Juho Hänninen, SS6 Kongsvinger

Rally Norway is the Norwegian rally which, as of the 2007 season onwards, is part of the World Rally Championship organised by the FIA. Previously, it had long only been the case of the Swedish Rally where a WRC event was held on snow. Driving on snow and ice is considered exotic in the rally context and with the use of Vikingskipet ("The Viking Ship") as indoor service area, Rally Norway is expected to deliver a unique event.

The rally springs out of from Rally Finnskog Norway with base in Kongsvinger, but the center of the event will, due to better accommodation and hospitality services, be in Hamar.

Candidate race

A candidate race was arranged 10 and 11 February 2006 with great success. Start and finish was held at Hamar, while the stages took the rally to Lillehammer, Sjusjøen, Kongsvinger and Elverum.

The rally was won by Henning Solberg. Throughout the first leg Daniel Carlsson was right behind Solberg, but went off the road at SS12 and had to retire the rally. The young talents Mads Østberg and Anders Grøndal took the second and third place on the podium.

The candidate race was by FIA given the grade "B", which outstands several current WRC-rallies.

WRC status

FIA decided 5 July 2006 in a meeting in Paris that Rally Norway was to achieve WRC-status. At first for one season, but with the possibility of prolonging of three more years.

The first WRC-rally on Norwegian snow was held 15-18 February 2007. The rally was won by Mikko Hirvonen, ahead of Marcus Grönholm, Henning Solberg and Petter Solberg.

Winners

Year	Driver Codriver	Vehicle
2006	Henning Solberg Cato Menkerud	Peugeot 307 WRC	Report *
2007	Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	Report
2008	Not Held
2009	Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC	Report

• * WRC Rally candidate

External links

• Official website
• Flickr photos