The crews left service at the Viking Ship in Hamar as dawn was breaking and headed out to the longest, most demanding test of the rally. The temperature was about minus 1.5 Celsius and a great amount of fresh snow had fallen overnight. The wet, slushy snow made conditions treacherous. As on Leg One, Petter’s cautious approach continued to pay dividends. His 25m 35.6s effort was the fourth fastest time through the stage and maintained his fourth position in the rally. But Chris was out of luck. About 18km into the stage he spun off into a snow bank and got stuck at the edge of the road. The Australian said: “There were huge amounts of snow up there. Even in the middle of the stage there was 10cm of snow. The car just went around and we got stuck on the edge of the road. We had to wait for a long time for some spectators to push us out.” Although his Impreza WRC2006 was undamaged, the incident cost him about 16 minutes and he dropped out of the top ten.
Fastest Time: Mikko Hirvonen (Ford) 24m 40.3s

After the tough 44km challenge of Elverum, the Subaru World Rally Team crews drove a 10km road section to get to the next test. Even though Terningmoen was geographically close to SS9, the route could not have been more different: the cars blasted along the access roads of a military range, before turning onto a quick and flowing section towards the finish. Petter was fifth quickest through the test with a time of 8m 12.2s, but put more distance between himself and his two closest rivals, Gigi Galli and Henning Solberg. Toni Gardemeister was quicker than Petter through the stage, but had fallen out of contention due to a spin on SS9. Meanwhile Chris played himself back in carefully after his problem on the previous stage and set a time of 8m 27.9s. He was now 27th overall.
Fastest Time: Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) 7m 59.1s

“We had no major problems on the two stages this morning, but conditions were very difficult because a lot of snow had fallen overnight. We chose a medium-long stud for those stages. It seems that all the drivers had different opinions about which studs to take for those stages and some were better suited to the conditions than others, because we saw a lot of people off the road. Fourth place is good so far. The guys ahead of us are pushing very hard and taking a lot of risks, but we are trying to be a little bit more careful.”
“On the long stage this morning [SS9] we had a problem. I think our pace was quite good, but I lost the rear of the car on a slow right-hand corner and we spun through 180 degrees on the spot. I’ve no idea why it happened. As we spun I tried to get back on the throttle to catch the slide but it still went round and we got beached in a ditch on the inside of the corner. Eventually some spectators came to help us dig the car out. When we got going again we drove up the road and then pulled over to let Mikko [Hirvonen] go past, because it was a narrow stretch of road and I didn’t want to interfere with his rally. We’re too far back to score any points now, but we’ll keep plugging away this afternoon to get some experience of these conditions.”

After service the drivers travelled north to tackle one of the most distinctive stages of the rally – a narrow, fast road surrounded by tall snow banks. The conditions were tough on the crews, with heavy snow and wind making visibility so poor that drivers could barely make out the corners ahead of them on the stage, forcing them to rely almost completely on their pace notes. Fresh snow on the route also made the stage slippery. Petter set a time of 15m 26.6s and said: “I just didn’t have any traction. It was very difficult.” Nevertheless, he maintained his fourth position overall. Chris came through the stage in 16m 09.7s.
Fastest Time: Hirvonen (Ford) 14m 01.8s

The heavy snow continued as the crews drove the 28km road section to the Lillehammer spectator stage, a short blast that ended next to the area’s ski resort. Visibility was extremely poor as the top cars negotiated the second half of the test. The big news from this stage was that Petter moved up from fourth to third position after Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb stopped mid-stage for eight minutes. Petter also showed improved pace compared to SS11. He set the third fastest time, 4m 38.2s, and pulled out a few more seconds over his brother Henning, who was now his closest challenger, 12.9s behind. Chris was tenth fastest through the stage after a steady run.
Fastest Time: Marcus Gronholm (Ford) 4m 33.9s

From Lillehammer, the drivers headed south for the penultimate stage of the day and faced even more extreme conditions. The first half of the stage was shrouded in fog and fresh snow. Petter resumed his fight for third with his brother Henning and although he was slightly slower through the stage, the Subaru driver remained in the final podium position. Petter’s effort of 16m 45.0s placed him fourth quickest through the test. Chris came through in 17m 18.6s (ninth fastest) and was just glad to make it to the end. He said: “There’s so much snow! It’s the first time I’ve ever driven in these conditions. It’s good learning for me, but there’s no way I can match the speed of the more experienced guys.”
Fastest Time: Gronholm (Ford) 16m 29.7s

The shortest test of Rally Norway was an end-of-leg treat for the spectators. It sliced a tree-lined route through a park in the city of Hamar and included a couple of tight, narrow hairpins. It wasn’t snowing in Hamar by the time the crews reached the stage via a 20km road section. In front of huge crowds and banners bearing the slogan ‘Heia Petter!’ (Go Petter!), the Norwegian set a time of 1m 15.4s, more than half a second faster than his brother Henning. That meant he remained in a solid third position at the end of the second leg, 9.9s ahead of Henning, with Sunday’s four stages between him and a popular podium finish on his home event. In the other Subaru World Rally Team Impreza WRC2006, Chris negotiated the parkland section in 1m 18.0s.
Fastest Time: Gronholm (Ford) 1m 13.8s

	1 Mikko HIRVONEN FORD Focus RS WRC 06 2:33:45.2   2 Marcus GRONHORM FORD Focus RS WRC 06 +19.3   3 Petter SOLBERG SUBARU IMPREZA WRC2006 +3:48.3   4 Henning SOLBERG FORD Focus RS WRC 06 +3:58.2   5 Jari-Matti LATVALA FORD Focus RS WRC 06 +5:16.9   6 Manfred STOHL CITROEN Xsara WRC +6:11.1   7 Gianluigi GALLI CITROEN Xsara WRC* +6:21.7   8 Xavier PONS Mitsubishi Lancer WR05* +8:01.8   9 Daniel CARLSSON CITROEN Xsara WRC +8:23.3   10 Jan KOPECKY Skoda Fabia WRC* +9:43.1   23 Chris ATKINSON SUBARU IMPREZA WRC2006 +23:14.3

The final day of Rally Norway comprises just 97.10km of competitive stages. All four tests are repeats of ones already tackled by the crews during this event. After a second run through the 1.15km Hamar spectator stage, the event finishes with a sting in the tail in the form of another attempt at the 44.28km Elverum section. The official finish of the event takes place in Hamar at 1500hrs.