Former world champion Petter Solberg made a dream Rally of Norway start in front of his home fans on Thursday, winning the opening super special stage in an eight-year-old Citroen Xsara.

The 2003 champion was left without a drive for the 2009 series after cash-strapped Subaru pulled the plug on their involvement at the end of last season.

As a result, he created his own team and was quickest around the 1.92km stage watched by thousands of fans who braved night-time temperatures which slumped to -13 degrees.

"It?s incredible," said Solberg. "That was good fun. I even had to do a proper clutch start on the line as everybody else had launch control but with this car it?s like going back to my old rallycross days."

Ford Focus driver Mikko Hirvonen was second fastest, six-tenths of a second slower than Solberg, but ahead of five-time world champion Sebastien Loeb, who used to drive the Norwegian's car.

"Petter has a good car now," he smiled. "Some of my best rallying memories are from when I was driving that car."