From ski to rally at Lysgårdsbakken

The opening of Norway’s second World Rally Championship round at Bjerkebanen in Oslo coincides with the 15 year anniversary of the opening ceremony for the legendary 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics. Now, as then, the landscape is decorated in the finest magical winter conditions you can imagine.

On February 12 1994 tens of thousands of spectators flock to the Olympic opening ceremony at Lysgårdsbakken. The fans at Bjerkebanen tonight will be heading out to see among others Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg rally driving with reigning World Champion Sebastien Loeb. Lysgårdsbakken, Håkonshall, Stampesletta and Birkebeiner stadium will transform from ski venues to rally arenas, with the same blanket of frost and snow that covered the landscape in ’94. In 1994 Norwegian fans came out in spite of the subzero temperatures and they won’t be stop by the cold this year either.  

In 2007 Rally Norway had in the region of  200,000 spectators.

Source: RallyNorway. Photos by  Jens Haugen.