­Competitors in Hell are driving their first laps of the Lånkebanen as part of the two free practice sessions this Saturday morning. SuperCar, Super1600 as well as TouringCar drivers have all completed the first free practice runs of four laps.

Timur Timerzyanov gained the fastest lap time in his all new Citroën DS3 although his lap time was only 0.118 fractions of a second faster than Tanner Foust who makes his second appearance in Hell. Teammates Stig-Olov Walfridsson and Mats Lysen were also quicker – third and fourth respectively. Foust again highlighted his love of the track: “It is a very technical track. There are gravel sections in places that you wouldn’t normally expect to find, and this is what makes it so technical,” confirmed the American.

Daniel Holten made his first competitive runs in Frode Holte’s Volvo C30 (aka “Donna”). The young Norwegian produced a twelfth fastest lap time, spinning out on his first lap and proving that the car is much more of a handful than his previous Super1600 Citroën Saxo. “This is still a large learning curve for me, but I’m getting to grips with the car more now, and we still have another practice before qualification begins,” said Holten. The car’s owner Frode Holte is also on scene this weekend to supervise the running of the SuperCar, and failed to confirm whether or not he will himself get to drive the C30 this year. “The original plan was to rent out the car for as many races as possible and maybe drive one or two races myself. Then sell the car after the season ends and work with my future plan to build a new one with another car make, so far the plan is going well but it still remains to be seen whether or not I will get to compete in the Volvo this year,” replied Frode Holte.

Fellow Norwegian Guttorm Lindefjell also revealed some uncertainty over his future during this season. “I think that I will decide that after Höljes in Sweden – the simple fact is that we have not a secure amount of money to compete,” said Lindefjell. Although the Norwegian showed that he still had his fighting spirit during free practice one – hammering his car over the small jump on the finish line only to lose control upon the landing, slam sideward and shunt into the concrete barriers.

Ulrik Linnemann was the fastest Super1600 driver. The Dane beat arch-rival Andreas Bakkerud to the top spot. Mandie August was the only non-finisher of this category, her all-new Škoda Fabia Mk2 experiencing engine problems.

The returning reigning TC champion, Lars Øivind Enerberg went fastest for the TouringCars. Young Swedish driver Anton Marklund was the only driver close to Enerberg’s rapid lap time.