So first Petter Solberg starts out well, but then drops down the ranks while big bro’ Henning Solberg moves up. In the end Henning dropped all the way down to 13th place in the Swedish Rally, while Petter made it to 4th, almost 3 minutes behind the winner.

So that sucks.

But wait, there’s good news too, for fans of the Norwegian drivers and fans of records being broken: Andreas Mikkelsen came in 5th place, the four points gained from that position making him the youngest person to score WRC points, at the tender age of 18. How cool! I for one am rooting for him, though I’m not convinced he will be a highly frequent face in the points this season. He’s definitely one to watch though. WRC-retiree, two-time World Champion, and silver winner of last year’s WRC, Markus Grønholm, is Mikkelsen’s mentor. That should give you a hint.

Incidentally, Latvala did indeed win in the end, in front of Hirvonen and Galli, which puts him second overall together with Loëb, both with ten points, behind Hirvonen with 16. Mikkelsen’s in 8th overall.

[Sources: WRC and Aftenposten]