Loeb out. Battle of the brothers for podium.

12.9 seconds divide Petter in third and Henning in fourth after SS12 Lillehammer.  Loeb is out of the front runners after 8 minutes stuck in the Olympic snow.

Will it be Petter or Henning? In the first WRC round on home turf, the sibling rivalry is really heating up now with a podium place to fight for.  Sébastien Loeb went into a snow bank during SS12,the ski jump stadium stage, and used 8 minutes to get himself out.  This opens up the provisional podium and Petter climbs to third place.   He clawed 3 seconds in his lead over brother Henning in SS12 Lillehammer, however he is just 12.9 seconds ahead overll.  Henning had previously beaten Petter by 50 seconds in the snow storm at Sjusjøen’s SS11 Mountain stage.  

A podium battle between the two local heroes in this, Norway’s inaugural WRC event, really cranks up the excitement level for home and international fans alike.

The Solberg brothers are competitive to the bone and hate losing.   It will be a hard fought race to the end on the last two stages of today’s Leg 2 and the four stages of Leg 3 on Sunday.   As Henning creeps closer, can Petter defend himself by pushing cautiously ahead, putting everything he can into reaching his goal?

Will Henning, who won last year’s Rally Norway candidate event for the WRC, teach his little brother a WRC lesson here with their countrymen looking on?  Only time will tell …