SUCCESSFUL FINISH FOR BRITISH TV RALLY DUO IN ACTION-PACKED NORWEGIAN RALLY

Unlike some teams, neither ice nor elks could defeat the Sportinglife.com MG team of Tony Jardine and Lee McKenzie this weekend as they battled their way to the finish of Mountain Rally Norway as Britain’s sole entry. Equipped with an MG ZR with studded Michelin tyres to cut through the snow, the TV presenters made it through a gruelling day of slippery bumps, jumps and luge-like ice runs on what has been described as one of the toughest rallies in the world.   

Incidents typical of an icy Norwegian event were in abundance and many competitors slid out of contest on only the second stage of the day.  Even an Elk stopped play on Special Stage 5, as it took up residence on the stage, taking away the front-runner’s hopes of finishing as the driver spun to avoid it.  Fortunately only egos were dented.   ITV’s F1 analyst Tony Jardine (driver) and sports presenter Lee McKenzie (co-driver) accepted the challenge to compete in the first round of the Norwegian Rally Championship after a successful outing on Wales Rally GB in September. 

This rally saw them heading to Gol, three hours North-West of Oslo to join a host on lightening- quick Scandinavians to battle it out in the snowy mountains. Jardine  commented:  “An  amazing  experience  to  drive  on  such  roads!    Norway’s mountains are stunning and the conditions for driving are incredibly challenging.  As one  of  the  few  international  entrants  and  the  only  Brits,  we’ve  also  had  a  great welcome from the  Norwegian  competitors for  coming  all  this  way.    I  really  hope  to come back here. “ Lee  McKenzie  added: 

“This  was  the  most  incredible  experience  and  a  bit  different from the day job.  This was just my fifth rally and my first outside of the UK, let alone on snow and ice so it was a huge personal challenge and I’m really delighted that we managed to finish.  When I saw eight Norwegian cars lying at the side of the road on Stage two, I thought we would really struggle to make it to the end. I was warned this rally was tough and it turned out to be the most challenging yet.”