Veiby on WRC pace as he won Numedalsrally
Ole Christian Veiby won the Norwegian championship event Numedalsrally for the second year in a row. The Skoda Motorsport works driver were on WRC pace at the third national round of the season.
February 26, 2018
The Norwegian youngster was the big favorite for the victory at Numedalsrally. Last weekend he finished third at the Swedish WRC round and he did not hold back this time either, even though it was a national championship rally in Numedal. He won five of eight stages and had over 40 seconds down to Marius Aasen in second place.
“I lost a lot on the final stage. The organizers had worked on the road and there was lots of loose snow in the lines. It was very slippery and the cars behind me had a big advantage” said Ole Christian, who lead by 58 seconds ahead of the last stage.
“But apart from the final stage, I have to give cred to the organizers for the fantastic conditions. It’s been a real pleasure to drive Numedalsrally this year as well. Amazing” he said with a smile.
Ole and his co-driver Stig Rune Skjærmoen has really enjoyed the rally. Their main goal was to repeat their victory from last year and get valuable practice.
“It’s not often that we have the opportunity to push at 100% from start until finish, but we did today. That’s extremely important to us. Even though we got a pretty solid lead early in the rally, we continued to push. We have pushed all day and set great times. That’s something I’m very happy about as you often get a bit defensive when you have a big lead. To sum it all up, I would say that it’s been a trouble free day” he stated.
Early in the rally, Ole had a small fight with Per Gunnar ‘PG’ Andersson, who drove a slightly older version of Skoda Fabia WRC. 21-year-old Veiby still had the upper hand on the Swede, who evetually slipped out of the top battle after getting penalty.
“I continued where I left off in Sweden and I feel like my pace was just as good today as it was last weekend at the WRC round” said Ole Christian.
Top 10 overall Numedalsrally 2018
1. Ole Christian Veiby/Stig Rune Skjærmoen Skoda Fabia R5 53:01.2
2. Marius Aasen/Marlene Engan Aasen Ford Fiesta R5 +0:40.7
3. Anders Grøndal/Roger Eilertsen Ford Fiesta R5 +1:00.2
4. Frank Tore Larsen/Torstein Eriksen Ford Fiesta R5 +1:46.5
5. Christian August Selmer/Anita Selmer Ford Fiesta R5 +4:01.2
6. Thomas Kvam/Stian Johnsen Citroen DS3 R5 +4:45.8
7. Oddbjørn Røed/Haakon Sande Ford Fiesta R5 +4:58.6
8. Anders Kjær/Gøril Undebakke Golf 2 GTi +5:24.4
9. Kenneth Johnsrød/Eirik Borge Mitsubishi Evo IX +6:00.7
10. Jan Egil Halland/Anders Nygård BMW M3 +6:11.7
Picture: Simen Næss Hagen