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I'm feeling more confident for Japan, says Petter |
Subaru team leader, Petter Solberg has said that he is looking forward to the Rally Japan in two weeks time after gaining more confidence with his Impreza WRC car in Corsica.
Although Petter missed out on P4 on the final day following a close battle with Jari-Matti Latvala, the Norwegian was still happy with the event overall and the result was the best he has managed since his third place finish in Greece, prior to the two-month summer hiatus.
In the end 'Hollywood' managed to set eleven top five stages times from a possible 15, his best - two third quickest efforts, one in the penultimate test on Sunday and the other in the final stage on Saturday.
"I thought the car felt better on day 3 and easier to drive which is a good step forward for us," he reflected.
"The speed is still not quite there and we are struggling on the very flat surfaces. Unfortunately for us the stages today were mostly flat so weren't able to catch Jari-Matti Latvala, although it was a good battle to the final stage.
"Overall though this weekend has been good for the team and I am feeling more confident with the car which is important going into Rally Japan next."
Chris Atkinson meanwhile finished sixth in the sister car, more than a minute behind Petter. The Aussie had mixed thoughts on his event as a whole.
"This weekend was not quite what we had expected and the result is not as good as we wanted, but we have collected some good points again and as a team have learnt a lot ahead of Japan," he added.
"We saw yesterday that the car is capable of good pace with third fastest on SS9, but there is still speed to come.
"A big area for us to work on is my confidence in the car on the smooth asphalt. The surface here over the three legs has been so varied, between bumpy and smooth, that it has been hard to develop a good rhythm," he summed-up.
