Photo: Marius Torgersrud/Rally Norway

Henning Solberg Remain on Course

Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud started the final day where they left off on leg two, posting top four stage times and extending their lead over Dani Sordo in fifth place to 21.8 seconds. The Norwegian speedster will now try to maintain that gap over the final three stages and score a superb result on his home round.

– That was a good morning, we had really good runs over all three of the stages. I was pushing hard in there as I needed to try and keep Sordo behind me and it worked, we have extended the gap now to over 20 seconds so it’s more comfortable. The grip is getting less and less though as the snow and ice is breaking up and I think it will be difficult for the second pass. But that last stage, it was incredibly fast, we were doing over 200kph!

With loose snow on the first two stages of the second loop it is expected they will cut up on the second pass, meaning drivers will have to think carefully about the line they take through the routes in order to maximize the grip of the Pirelli Sottozero studded snow tyres. A further factor affecting the conditions on the stages is a result of the battle raging between leader Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen. The duo are pushing so hard in the battle for victory they are leaving behind chunks of ice and snow from banks they have struck, and those further down the order are having to drive through them.

Published: 2009-02-15 10:59