Henning Solberg and Cato Menkerud claimed the WRC candidate event in Norway this weekend, taking overall honours after a faultless rally in their OMV Peugeot 307.

The local duo were over five minutes ahead of their nearest rivals as Norway put on a show for the World Rally Championship schedulers, dominating the event with 13 stages wins from a possible 14, and leading from SS3.

The only rival to give Solberg any competition was Sweden's Daniel Carlsson, who led the rally after the second stage on Saturday morning, but was subsequently left in the Norwegian's wake.

"We've had two fantastic days," Solberg admitted, "The rally has been fun and so smooth that it felt easy. We have had no problems, either with the driving or technical issues. The spectators have come out in force and the weather and conditions were totally perfect."

Any hope that Carlsson may have had of reeling Solberg in disappeared on stage twelve, when he was forced to retire after going off the road. With his Mitsubishi stuck fast in the snow at Mesna, second place was taken by Mads Ostberg's Subaru, with Anders Grondal inheriting third.

Further down the field double Norwegian rally champion, Thomas Schie was fourth, 30 seconds behind Grondal, while Trond Sveinsvoll and Patrik Flodin rounded out the top six, ahead of Eivind Steffensen, Birger Gundersen and Bernt Kollevold, in eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.

Former F1 ace Mika Salo completed the event in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8, the Finn 14th overall, 24 minutes 25secs off Solberg.

The result provided the ideal boost to Solberg's morale prior to him rejoining the WRC in Mexico early next month.

"We have got a test in France before we go to Mexico, and I haven't had much time to think about it yet, but I am really looking forward to driving the car on gravel," he said.

Solberg was also quick to praise the organisers of the Norwegian event, which is battling with as many as six other rallies for a possible place on future WRC calendars.

"This was a perfect event, with lovely roads and a very good framework," he reported, "I just can't believe we wouldn't get a WRC event after this."



Result - Rally Norway - Top 10:

1. Henning Solberg OMV Peugeot Norway 307 WRC 3hours 00mins 50.7secs
2. Mads Østberg Subaru Impreza WRC +05mins 11.3secs
3. Anders Grøndal Subaru Impreza WRC +06mins 19.7secs
4. Thomas Schie Ford Focus RS WRC +06mins 51.3secs
5. Trond Sveinsvoll Ford Focus WRC +09mins 00.1secs
6. Patrik Flodin Subaru Impreza WRX +09mins 18.6secs
7. Juha Salo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 +10mins 49.8secs
8. Eivind Steffensen Subaru Impreza +17mins 21.9secs
9. Birger Gundersen Subaru WRX +17mins 51.7secs
10. Bernt Kollevold Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7 +17mins 57.9secs