Rally of Norway 2007

Wow, second win in a row for Ford (we sort of missed rally of Sweden, didn't we?) and now Ford drivers take double lead in the drivers' championship with Gronholm in first followed by Hirvonen and Loeb.

Supposedly this is the first time since 1979 that Ford took all three podium places - Hirvonen - Gronholm - H. Solberg. Loeb lost a load of time during leg two and finished in 14th (which wasn't really demonstrative of his performance, he did very well before and after his off with quite a few stage wins).

Ford also extend their lead over Citroen in the teams' standings. Very will done Mikko and Ford!

It was a great event, well organised (as far as spectators are concerned at least), good crowds at the viewing points and some exciting competition between the Solberg brothers. And best of all, most stages were within an hour of my mother in laws place!!

Some of the drivers were having problems with tyres, to little snow on Friday, too much in places on Saturday, but the weather was great for the fans, it can be as low as -25 to 30DegC or even lower around there at this time of year, so the mild weather was a bonus, at least for us anyway.

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and congrats to not only the drivers but also the organisers who made it so easy for spectators.

Oh, and I think I fell in love with the little yellow Suzuki's, just awesome!!!!

Richie

I was pleased to see Henning get the better of his brother on the last leg and make it a Ford 1-2-3. Even more pleased to see Malcom Wilson not try and monkey with the result and allow Mikko to take his well deserved win in front of Marcus. :thumbsup:

Will be interesting next when they move to the first gravel event in Mexico (I think). For Subaru's sake I hope the '07 Impreza is a big step forward.

So, Loeb is human after all.

It was very exciting to watch. Every moment I saw Mikko in action I was worried he would make a small mistake and drop off the leaderboard. But he didn't. You sure can see this boy became a man last year, he's very confident.

Indeed Phil, good to see Henning taking 3rd place before his brother. And indeed, hopefully the new Impreza will give Petter better results for the rest of the season.

So, Loeb is human after all.

Those are the exact words that came to mind watching the rally. It was great to see Mikko get his second win right out (Remember in Australia Gronholm had an early off, and Loeb was still recovering). More and more I'm starting to appreciate Gronholm's sense of humor, some of the post-stage comments he makes are really hilarious. Hopefully we can see more drivers battling for the drivers championship, I think it's going to be a great year.

Here is Gronholm having a little fun with Loeb:
http://www.swerally.se/resources/images/3.jpg