Rally Norway lived up to its reputation for very demanding stages in bitingly cold conditions this weekend, providing a unique challenge for the drivers in the season’s only snow event.

Despite all the hazards, SUBARU Impreza-equipped competitors took stage wins on more than half of the event’s 23 tests. The majority of these victories (eight) were the work of Swedish Patrik Flodin who, along with local man Andreas Mikkelsen (with four stage wins to his credit) set the pace all weekend long. This was complemented by a first stage victory for Sveinung Bieltvedt on the last test.

The fight in the P-WRC was on right from the start of the morning, with Flodin setting blindingly quick times throughout the first loop of tests. He started off by winning the opening 30.03-km stage by some 14 seconds, then went quickest on the next test before just missing out on a hat-trick of wins by a mere 0.6 seconds on the 19.74-km stage. Fellow Impreza runner Andreas Mikkelsen’s retirement on SS 20 meant that Flodin inherited one more very valuable championship point. Flodin inherited one more very valuable championship point, and finished in seventh position and gained 2 points.

Mikkelsen’s morning got off to a rather miserable start when he was penalized for arriving seven minutes late at the first check point. This instantly demoted him to sixth, putting the fight for the final podium position well out of reach. The culprit was clear: Mikkelsen couldn’t start his car in the morning after forgetting to switch off his battery main switch the night before. His first stage time was fourth quickest in P-WRC, slow by his standards.

The next test, SS19 spelled misfortune for the Norwegian when he suffered a double puncture. Retirement came shortly after.

Gianluca Linari had a tough event, his frustration at losing 20 minutes on the first day clearly evident. He’s struggled for the pace here, but has really enjoyed it and finished in 11th among P-WRC.
STI Group N Project General Manager George Donaldson:
“In many ways it’s been a good weekend, a superb performance from the chassis of the Impreza, really conquering the conditions here. However, through one thing and another, all of our top P-WRC drivers here have fallen foul of driving errors, and Toshi fell victim to a most unusual and unexpected electrical relating problem. It was bitterly disappointing from the point of view of the result; but very heartening for the year ahead seeing that we have two drivers right at the front, pushing the pace. Hopefully Mikkelsen will also be joining for another five or six events to ram the message home.Patrik is phenomenally disappointed with his two discretions on this rally - which he paid very dearly for on each occasion. However, his eight stage wins is clear evidence of his and the Impreza’s pace.Sveinung Bieltvedt said his first stage after lunch yesterday wasn’t brilliant, but after that everything slotted into place and he’s really been able to go for it. Despite all those difficulties he’s had, he never put a foot wrong. The stage win is a great and fitting end to his rally, I’m very pleased for him.Next on our calendar is Cyprus in a month’s time. The conditions could hardly be more different than this weekend’s. I know the Impreza and our drivers are up to the challenge.”