The Adapta
World Rally Team has revealed that it will enter a second car into the Norwegian round of the
World Rally Championship.
Anders Grondal and co-driver Maria Andersson will line-up alongside
Mads Ostberg and Ole Kristian Unnerud for the second round of the WRC season and the 24-year-old said he was pleased to have been given the chance to drive the Impreza WRC2008 in his home event.
”It's almost unbelievable,” he said. ”I'm as excited as a child! It's going to be fantastic to drive a car that is on the same performance level as the very best. Now it's up to me to grab the chance I've been offered.”
Team-mate Ostberg is due to take in eight events over the course of the season and said he was aiming high on his home rally, with a top five finish being his aim for the weekend.
“It's going to be fun to drive WRC on home ground again,” he said. “It's pretty special with such large crowds, Norwegian flags and the unique atmosphere. My target is to finish in the top five. I hope there'll be plenty of locals from my home county Østfold to cheer me on both at the Bjerkebanen show and along the route in Hedmark and Oppland.”
The news of a second Adapta entry comes just a day after
Petter Solberg confirmed he will be at the wheel of
Citroen Xsara WRC and will increase the Norwegian presence in the field in an increasingly strong looking entry list.
“This is a great day for us,” Rally Norway managing director Even Wiger said. “On 16 December we heard that Subaru is withdrawing as manufacturer from the
World Rally Championship. Now a Norwegian private team is entering the exact same cars as
Petter Solberg and
Chris Atkinson would have driven and an equal service team. Four Norwegian drivers are in the mix for the top eight places in the Rally Norway results.
“We now have a start list that is of better calibre than we had in 2007.
Citroen are bringing two teams and five cars and Ford which scored a triple podium last time with
Henning Solberg in third.
Petter Solberg has his Citroën Xsara ready and now
Mads Ostberg and Anders Grondal have announced themselves among the favourites. Last but by no means least, there are the talented drivers Eyvind Brynildsen, Andreas Mikkelsen and Sveinung Bieltvedt to name a few in Group N.”
