The start of the 2009 P-WRC (Production Car World Rally Championship) got underway around Hamar, Norway between the 12^th to 15^th February. Of course because it's February and the rally is in Norway, it was going to be a full-out snow rally with a total of 23 SS, covering 361km. The temperatures were below freezing, but a hot battle was about to begin!

 

Last years P-WRC final round winning driver, P.Flodin, teamed up with the same team which took him to that victory, Russia's Uspenskiy Rally Technica for this season opening rally. Local Norwegian driver, A.Mikkelsen, took part in the second Uspenskiy Rally Technica car. Both P.Flodin and A.Mikkelsen were absent for the combined P-WRC test session but were confident with the set-ups found during the pre-rally tests.

 

On day 1, P.Flodin and A.Mikkelsen set favorable times repetitively from SS1 putting them up in the top group. But bad luck struck, as both drivers drove off course, P.Flodin in SS5 and A.Mikkelsen in SS8. They lost valuable time and ended up falling down the order. At the end of day 1, A.Mikkelsen finished in 6^th and P.Flodin in 9^th, but all was not lost as A.Mikkelsen set the fastest time in 4 stages that day.

 

On day 2, A.Mikkelsen took right where he left off, and continued to set fast times to move up the order into 4^th position. P.Flodin was off to a flying start by setting the top time in the first stage of the day, SS10, but unfortunately he drove off course during SS12, falling down the order again. This reduced his chances of finishing in the top group, but he was certainly able to show off his talents as he set the fastest times in SS14 and SS16.

 

P.Flodin continued with his charge on day 3 by setting four more top times, but his earlier incidents restricted him from gaining no higher than 7^th position. On the other hand, A.Mikkelsen looked to finish well but unbelievable bad luck fell. He suffered from 2 tire bursts forcing him to retire from the rally.

P.Flodin and A.Mikkelsen had a bad spell and were unable to attain the top positions they deserved. Out of the total 23 SS, P.Flodin set 8 fastest times, and A.Mikkelsen 4. This meant, between the two of them, they had a combined 12 fastest times, 52% of the whole rally. Because of their great performance, both drivers, Uspenskiy Rally Technica, and TEIN were able to get plenty attention.

Look forward to the next exciting round in Portugal from the 3^rd to 5^th April.