What a competition! It has never been that hot and full of people here in Vålerbanen. Competition started with all twelve drivers showing what they’ve got, and they had really some skills! Spectators were in awe and each run was taken with a lot of emotions all around the grandstand. Has Vålerbanen seen so many people before? How was it for you?
– What a fun day! Drivers loved it, fans loved it and it was so cool to see the «little guys» do so well. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to put on this show with Gatebil and I hope we can keep doing Big Entries in the future, – says Fredric Aasbø, who is standing behind the idea and most of the execution of this competition hands on every detail.
– It was hard to watch and not drive myself. Maybe next time I’ll join the fun too? – And yes, we would love to see him at our festival tracks between the drivers, not only in the TV screens.
COMPETITION
So we had 12 handpicked drivers right from the Friday action on the track, and here are the results after the first round:
| Startnr | DRIVER | CAR | POINTS |
| 6 | Hans Hartvikøy | Nissan Skyline R33 | 97,6 |
| 5 | Jonathan Øraker | BMW E36 Sedan | 90,3 |
| 7 | Tore Leithe | Toyota Corolla AE86 | 89.6 |
| 10 | Øyvind Bogen | Nissan S 15 | 82.6 |
| 1 | Andreas Øvergaard | Nissan Skyline R33 | 82.3 |
| 8 | Sondre Bye | BMW E92 | 82.3 |
| 9 | Kristian Liøkel | Black Volvo 740 | 79.6 |
| 4 | Robert Granaas | BMW E92 | 75.3 |
| 12 | Henrik Kjemperud | Ford Sierra Estate | 70.6 |
| 2 | Tor Anders Ringnes | Toyota GR Supra | 61.6 |
| 3 | Stian Lilleskog | Ford Granada | 49.6 |
| 11 | Christer Nymoen | Ford Sierra P100 | 40 |
After the first 12 runs, judges results gave us the names of which six cars are going further to top 6. And once again we were experiencing waves of so much fun, speed ans adrenaline. The Big Entry Show could not be imaginable anywhere else in the world, but Gatebil. Judges had done a great job with making drivers list full of surprises and we can say finally – FINALLY these amazing Gatebil drivers got the attention they so desserved. This mix of Pro drivers and Gatebil cars was fun to watch.
| Startnr | DRIVER | CAR | POINTS |
| 6 | Hans Hartvikøy | Nissan Skyline R33 | 99 |
| 5 | Jonathan Øraker | BMW E36 Sedan | 97,3 |
| 7 | Tore Leithe | Toyota Corolla AE86 | 93 |
| 1 | Andreas Øvergaard | Nissan Skyline R33 | 92,3 |
| 8 | Sondre Bye | BMW E92 | 84 |
| 10 | Øyvind Bogen | Nissan S 15 | 79 |
After top 6 we were taken to top 3 with the most skilled drivers and probably we had never cheered that much for anyone than these three heroes:
Jonathan Øraker, Tore Leithe and Hans Hartvikøy! All of them really deserved to be in the final top 3 and they made us scream and they made us jump and my, oh my they were playing with our nerves!
| Startnr | DRIVER | CAR | POINTS |
| 7 | Tore Leithe | Toyota Corolla AE86 | 96 |
| 6 | Hans Hartvikøy | Nissan Skyline R33 | 95,3 |
| 5 | Jonathan Øraker | BMW E36 Sedan | 91.3 |
TAKEAWAY
– I think we succeeded in making this a really fun hour for everyone: From Live DJ’ing and amping up the vibes trackside, via the speakers that interviewed the drivers, to all the bad ass entries on track – it was so cool to see it unfold. Amazing! – says Fredric about the competition overall. And it was most probably a little dream come true for him as well – to see his idea play out in real life and specially being such a success!
After the last three runs all three cars were taken to the front of grandstands and we finally found out the winner – TORE JESUS LEITHE! SO really deserved!
