Originally Posted by Iskald
Norway was actually nowhere in rallying when the Solberg brothers came into the sport in 96-97. Finland has always been oceans ahead of us, and our neigbours Sweden was looked upon as big brother. Certainly we have passed the swedes now, and possibly we can gain on Finland (Tomi and you other finns, I know you will be protesting this...!). Anyway we have had what we call the Solberg effect. New talents dare to think that they could have a chance if they try. Of course Mikkelsen and Østberg has been blessed with rich fathers, but believe you me - they are not only spoiled kids, but very talented too. Other young guns steadily pops up these days; Brynildsen, Bieltvedt, Kjær and more will come. We have a "youth class", allowing drivers to start with rallying from the age of 16, before they can take their licence for road-driving. In the midst of the financial crisis we started up a new Subaru Cup last saturday, with no less than 19 spanking new Impreza Sti N14s on the start line. It doesn`t look too bad, actually...