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The varied conditions of the Rally Norway stages will present a considerable driving challenge this weekend, according to Subaru World Rally Team pairing Chris Atkinson and Glenn Macneall.

The Australian duo completed their recce of the speed tests near Hamar yesterday (Wednesday), after which Chris said: "It's really varied: some stages have lots of snow and ice, particularly up on the Mountain stage and the ones near Hamar, but on other sections there are hardly any snow banks and there's a little bit of gravel showing. I think it will be quite mixed conditions when the rally starts, but some of the icy, snowy stages should suit our car and tyre package."

Like team-mates Petter Solberg and Phil Mills, Chris and Glenn took part in the recce for last year's Rally Norway, which was not part of the World Rally Championship. However, they have found this year's tests radically different to those that were used for the 2006 event.

Glenn said: "Most of the forest stages are more flowing than last year, when they were narrow and twisty. All the forestry stages are quite similar, there's not that many reference points. There are a lot of parts of the stages that seem to have been designed with spectators in mind, for example, where they've carved a road out of the snow on a trotting track."