Mountain test for Ostberg

Mads Ostberg will warm-up for next month’s Rally Sweden with an outing on the Mountain Rally in his native Norway on Saturday.

Ostberg, who finished an encouraging fourth in the WRC season-opening Rallye Monte-Carlo last weekend on his Citroen debut, will share a DS3 WRC with regular co-driver Jonas Andersson in the second round of the Norwegian Championship.

The rally, which covers six snowy speed tests and almost 80km of competition in the mountains surrounding the ski resort of Gol, will provide perfect preparation for Ostberg’s first loose surface WRC event with his new team in Sweden.

“It is always good fun to drive a rally in Norway but this time I’m even more excited than ever,” said Ostberg, who won the Mountain Rally in both 2007 and 2008.

“I so enjoyed the DS3 in Monte Carlo, and can’t wait to finally test it on proper snowy conditions. I’m so pleased Citroën Racing offered me to do this event, and I strongly hope that I can continue the good learning process I started in Monte Carlo.

“Mountain Rally comes with great stages, both technical demanding and fast, so it is a perfect warm-up for Rally Sweden,” he added.