Quote Originally Posted by Myrvold View Post
One thing is money and regulations, but you also see where the most Norwegian drivers are located. That's also where their sponsors were located. Doing Rally Sweden in Värmland&Norway, getting the biggest sponsors to their service park, VIP'ing them around (as VIP as you can make it as a Rally2/Rally3/Rally4 privateer), it gave the sponsors a reason to chip in a little bit extra. It was worth it. They could drive up after work on Friday, either do a full party on Saturday and sleep of the alcohol on Sunday, or watch rally and service on Saturday, go home again and sleep in their own bed on Saturday night. Perfect.

In Umeå... that's not the case. Solberg in WRC2, Johansson in JWRC. Then there is Reiersen as a one off. That's it with Norwegian-Swedes/Swedes (I claim both Solberg and Reiersen as Norwegians!). With 4 Finns (Manufacturer-drivers in Rally1 not included) it's not really much more Finns than usual either.
It's just not worth it. It takes a lot more time for everyone involved. It takes 12 hours to drive, in perfect conditions, with no stop from where I live and up to Umeå, and I live closer than many of the Norwegian privateers that have showed up now and again.
I´d say big sponsors fly to Umeå. Can be done in one day or at least only one night stay.