The Norwegian National Championship was held in Kodal (170km south of Oslo) on the first weekend of August. Forty drivers signed up for this race, but only 33 showed up mostly due to the poor weather forecast.
pit (click to enlarge)
On Friday the weather was great with a temperature of 25°C and sunny skies. During practice on Friday I was setting the pace together with Adrian Berntsen, Frank Andersen, and Georg Ellingsen. Then we woke up on Saturday and it was raining cats and dogs! The weather forecast showed 17mm rain and a high risk of thunderstorms. This really posed a problem, since I was leaving for the WC in Portugal on Wednesday, and the car would probably need to be completely rebuilt.
Adrian as mechanic (click to enlarge)
The practice heat went on with no drivers. The first and second qualifying rounds went on with no drivers. In the third round some drivers, including me, started. Almost all drivers had problems in the rain.
But when the fourth round started the weather cleared up, and the race director held a short drivers meeting and decided to delay the fourth round of qualifying. The track dried up, and I took TQ ahead of Frank Andersen, Adrian Berntsen, and Georg Ellingsen. All were driving XRAY NT1 cars.
start of semi (click to enlarge)
The fifth round of qualifying was supposed to be held on Sunday but heavy fog and light rain made chances for improvement impossible. so my TQ time from Saturday kept me in the top spot!
The weather cleared and all the finals could be driven under dry conditions. From the semi-finals, Werner Ersland and Stig "All in" Alstad joined us in the main final, making a total of 6 XRAY in the main final.
(click to enlarge)
The main final started cleanly and Adrian started pushing me and stressing me to come by directly from the start. We were pulling away from the pack with Frank close behind. After 25 minutes, the difference between me and Adrian was only 0.07sec and Frank was only 2 seconds behind. This was great racing. Unfortunately, Adrian encountered got radio problems and had to retire from the race. I managed to make the gap to Frank approximately 5-10 seconds. After 45 minutes I finished 1st and Frank was 2nd.
Results :
1. Helge Johannessen XRAY NT1
2. Frank Andersen XRAY NT1
3. Tom Erik Haaversen 4. Georg Ellingsen XRAY NT1
5. Werner Ersland XRAY NT1
6. Bj?rn Dahl
7. Markus Alvestad
8. Kai Erik Rosland 9. Stig "All In" Alstad XRAY NT1
10. Adrian Berntsen XRAY NT1
