by Rob Wilkins
TO HEAR THE INTERVIEW IN FULL WITH PHIL MILLS: CLICK HERE
Petter Solberg's co-driver Phil Mills was hoping for better in the second part of the season, but to date, his expectations - and Subaru's for that matter - haven't really been realised.
Crash.net Radio spoke to Phil recently at the Castle Combe Rallyday and got his thoughts ahead of the back-to-back asphalt events in Spain and Corsica...
Crash.net:
Phil, what have you made of this year's Rallyday?
Phil Mills:
It is superb. It is just a very special day out with all this Group B machinery flying around. The weather is nice this year and you can tell by how many people have come through the gates just how popular events like this are.
Crash.net:
When we spoke before Finland you were hopeful that the second half of the season would see some good results. Unfortunately it has been quite tough...
PM:
It has been a difficult three or four seasons now. But the new car is early in its development stages and that is where we are with it. You can't go testing all the time like you use to be able to years ago and so you are testing on events now. It is very frustrating testing in public. It is a slow, slow job, but we are getting there, albeit slowly.
Crash.net:
How are things looking ahead of those two asphalt events in Spain and France?
PM:
On asphalt we know roughly where we are because of how we performed in Germany and on high-grip events, such as Corsica, it will be okay. We seem to struggle on the low grip events, which is events like Catalunya, and so we don't expect to do too much there. But we are not really concentrating on tarmac too much anyway. There is only one proper tarmac rally next year [Spain] - and Ireland, which is a very muddy event. We are concentrating on gravel development and that is where all the work is going into.
Crash.net:
Have you done any testing since the last event in New Zealand?
PM:
No, we have had no testing at all. As I say, we are concentrating on the gravel rounds. There is a test going on this coming week [September 22 to September 26]. We will be running on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It is not massive things. It is only small things to do to the car. But they still need to be tested and we are quite looking forward to seeing what happens.
Crash.net:
Japan and Wales follow the back-to-back asphalt events in Spain and Corsica - are you feeling more positive for those rounds?
PM:
I will tell you after the test!
[laughs] But Japan is obviously very, very important for Subaru and we would like to go there and have a nice result. Okay, not necessarily in terms of winning it, but it would be good to go there and have a proper fight and get a good result, especially for our Japanese employers.
Crash.net:
Mikko Hirvonen is currently battling with
Sebastien Loeb for the 2008 drivers' title. Do you think it is looking more like Sebastien will take the crown now?
PM:
