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| Far from a Greek tragedy for Solberg and Mills! |
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| Norway's Petter Solberg's Subaru Impreza finishes in second place |
| © www.worldrallypics.com |
| 2 June 2008, 1:20 pm |
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| Norway's Petter Solberg, partnered by his Welsh co-driver Phil Mills enjoyed a long-overdue return to form in Greece, bringing their newly-launched Subaru Impreza 2008 World Rally Car back to the finish in second place overall on the BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally. |
“I’m almost overwhelmed,” said Solberg. “It’s been perfect - we’ve had no problems all rally. The guys in the team did a fantastic job to get the car ready for this event and now I can say that the future looks great. The new car has shown it has the necessary pace and there’s a lot more to come. Brilliant!”
Team-mates Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Prévot were less fortunate. Their car succumbed to a simple electrical problem with the starter motor prior to starting the second stage on Saturday morning. They re-started on Sunday only to retire with broken suspension after spinning and hitting a rock in Stage 15.
Reigning World Rally Champions Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena (Citroen C4) won this tough event for a second time (the first in 2005) and move into a one point lead in the FIA World Rally Championship as it reaches its mid-point. This was their fifith win this season and their 41st WRC victory so far. putting them on course for their fifth consecutive titles.
They lost the lead – to team mates Dani Sordo and Marc Marti who eventually finished fifth - on the ninth stage, but by prudent tyre management regained the advantage on SS 12, eventually completing the 20th and final timed stage with a wining margin of 1 minute 9 seconds.
“It was a tough and long weekend but in the circumstances it was almost a perfect rally,” said Loeb. “It’s been hard for all of us driving in such rough conditions. It wasn’t just a question of going fast; instead it was all about knowing where to push and where to slow down.
Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen in their BP Ford Abu Dhabi Ford Focus WRC finished third after a determined effort which saw the Finnish pairing achieve three fastest stage times.
Team mates and fellow countrymen Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila had led up to stage three in their Ford Focus and recorded fastest times on five stages but could only manage seventh.” Everything happened to me on this rally,” said Latvala. “But Ford is still leading the Manufacturers’ championship so I’m happy about that. The speed has actually been okay, but a few little things haven’t worked out for us. I want a clean run in Turkey.”
Urmo Aava (Citroen C4) delivered two fastest stage times and a career-best fourth place overall.
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team-mates Gigi Galli and Cumbria’s Mathew Wilson, co-driven by Scott Martin, had mixed fortunes. Wilson finished a creditable sixth but despite their four stage wins it was not Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini’s rally as they retired on all three days. On day 1 the Italian hit a large rock in the middle of the road in SS2 which immediately broke the front, right track control arm. The exact incident was cruelly re-enacted on Sunday 15 kilometres into stage 18 ending what has been an unlucky event.
“After a tough first day I’m glad to have finished in the points,” said Mathew. “I really had to use my head here; the conditions today were so rough they were almost unbelievable. From what I’ve heard this was just like the Acropolis was years ago - a real car breaker.”
Henning Solberg – Petter’s older brother – was eighth in another Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Focus. He started Sunday third, but was dogged by an engine problem which eventually dropped him out of podium contention. “It was a big disappointment but what can you do?” said Solberg. “This is part of the rally sometimes. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get on the podium with my brother but I’m going to do better next time.”
Picture caption; A Podium finish in Greece for Norway’s Petter Solberg and Welshman Phil Mills in the all-new Subaru Impreza WRC2008.
Useful websites;
For Acropolis Rally results and news; http://www.acropolisrally.gr/en
For latest standings in the FIA WRC, news, video clips, etc; http://www.wrc.com
WRC teams websites;
http://www.citroen-wrc.com
http://www.swrt.com
http://www.stobartmotorsport.com
http://www.bpfordwrc.com
http://www.suzukisport.com/wrc
http://www.munchis.com.ar
The next and eighth round of the FIA WRC is the sixth Rally of Turkey 13th to 15th June; http://www.wrcturkey.com
Ends. |
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