Spectacular opening show at Bjerkebanen 12 February

Breath taking stunts in Freestyle Motocross and Snowmobilecross will keep spectators on the edge of their seats at Rally Norway’s opening ceremony at Bjerke Racecourse Thursday 12 February.

Before the rally show kicks off, led by brother duo Petter and Henning Solberg, Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen on the Bjerkebanen racecourse, the audience will see thrilling warm-up acts including snowmobilescross stunts and tricks by freestyle motocross riders.

For the first time since breaking both legs, international FMX star Andre Villa will entertain the crowds on Norwegian turf – or in Norwegian air!  On 12 February at Bjerke racecourse, he joins freestyle motocross (FMX) colleagues Aleksander Nordgaard and Jostein Stenberg, to put on a show of which Norway rarely sees the like: with backflips and jumps of up to 20 metres long and 10 metres high. 

The top rally drivers will be introduced and interviewed, including Petter Solberg, Henning Solberg, Sebastien Leob, Daniel Sordo, Jari Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen not to mention Andreas Mikkelsen, Mads Østberg, Eyvind Brynildsen and Sveinung Bieltvedt and others.

The first rally stage, Super Special Stage 1, will be driven Thursday evening on a track using the Bjerke racecourse with a circuit shape used previously in other rally events at the horse racing course.  Spectators will see the world’s rally elite at close quarters and witness how skillfully they master the tight corners and jumps at high speed.  The two laps of the Bjerkebanen stage total about 2km.

The rally cars will be transported 120km on special trucks from Rally HQ in Hamar to Oslo for the show and back again straight afterwards because on Friday 13 February the first car leaves Park Fermé at 07.00hrs. From there the route heads south to Grue in Hedmark and the Opaker stage where the first car starts at 09.02. The rest of Friday’s Leg 1 takes place around Kongsvinger and Grue, with four stages that are particularly excellent for public viewing.

Leg 2 on Saturday 14 February continues the rally in Ringsaker with the beautifully scenic ”Mountain” stage, followed by a high speed stage in Lillehammer. The day’s action closes with a street stage in Ankerskogen in Hamar’s centre.

Sunday’s third leg will take the rally route through the Elverum region with a final stage finishing on the Hedmarksvidda by Budor farm.