There are no Brits competing in the JRC this year, although Ireland’s Shaun Gallagher has entered. He will compete in a
Citroen C2-R2 and along with Burkart will be one of eight drivers in contention for the ‘C2 Junior Experience’ rewards.
“With eight registered cars, including the PH Sport one, we make up nearly 40 per cent of the junior field - which is a great success story for us,” said Yves Matton, Citroen Sport’s customer competition manager. “It just goes to show the fantastic interest there has been in the C2 Junior Experience from young drivers around the world.”
Under the C2 Junior Experience, if one of the registered Citroen drivers wins the Junior title he will be get to do two rounds in 2008 in a Citroen Xsara WRC. The runner-up will be given one round with the car while the third placed finisher will get to test it. Furthermore, one free WRC rally will be given to the best-placed driver who has competed in the ‘C2 Junior Experience’ with a C2-R2.
Other significant entries:
Just under-80 crews are due to start the Rally Norway, with almost 30 in WRC cars.
In addition to the manufacturer drivers’,
Gigi Galli will take in his second event with the Aimont Racing-run Citroen Xsara WRC, while
Toni Gardemeister, Xavier Pons and PWRC runner, Juho Hanninen will all compete in privately entered Mitsubishi Lancer WRC cars, run by MMSP.
Guy Wilks meanwhile, who had been one of the front runners in the Junior WRC series in recent years, will use a 2005-spec Ford Focus WRC. Wilks is hoping to do around eight events this season with the Focus, although that has still to be confirmed.
There are also - like in Sweden and as would be expected - a number of Scandinavians in the field, with three-time Norwegian champion, Thomas Schie and Tord Linnerud in privately entered Ford Focus WRC’s, while Mads Ostberg, Anders Grondal and Rune Dalsjo have all opted for Impreza WRC’s.
![Scene at the start of Rally Norway 2006 [Pic credit: Rally Norway]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/263848.jpg)
