As for the Rally Japan itself, Mikko has competed in it every year since it joined the WRC schedule in 2004 - he managed a seventh place finish on his first outing with a
Subaru Impreza WRC and took in the event last year in a Skoda Fabia WRC, retiring in the first leg when he rolled out.
"I quite enjoy Japan. In fact Finland was a good shakedown for this weekend because the stages in both countries are fast and I'm already in the right attitude," he continued. "We're not allowed to test outside Europe before events but the stages are not so different to Finland so the set-up of the car will be pretty much the same. The narrow roads are the main feature. But they are changing. Even last year, when it was only the rally's second time in the championship, the roads were a little wider. People were braver in cutting corners and when that happens the bends change in character and eventually become more open."
Subaru World Rally Team:
[
Petter Solberg, car #5 and
Chris Atkinson, car #6.]
Subaru number one driver, Petter Solberg has refused to predict how he or the team will do in Japan, after two miserable outings in Germany and Finland. Solberg will make his third Rally Japan appearance this year and while he won the inaugural WRC event in 2004, last year was not so good, when his rally came to a premature end, when, with a 22 second lead, he hit a rock on the penultimate stage of the rally and retired.
Speaking prior to the event though, 'Hollywood' added that he definitely likes it: "I enjoy Rally Japan a lot, it’s always been a good rally for us, but this year I don’t want to make any predictions. Let’s start, get into a rhythm and go from there – we need a good finish. Ideally it would be on the podium – if we’re lucky and everything on the car works okay, we should be more than capable of doing this. It would be a great result for all of the fans there; it’s definitely a boost for a driver to have that kind of incredible support."
