Solberg has been busy testing in between the Rally Finland and Rally Japan and he and team-mate,
Chris Atkinson went directly from Finland to Sardinia for a four-day development test. Solberg drove for two days while Atkinson followed the test as an observer.
Atkinson notched up his first and only podium finish in Japan last year and while he reckons it won’t be easy to repeat that, he is pleased with the progress made by the team with the Impreza WRC.
“Rally Japan is Subaru’s home event so it’s a big rally for the team,” said Atkinson. “We did well there last year, and I enjoy the narrow, fast, tricky roads, but it could be difficult to get that result again. We’ve made some steps forward with the car, now it’s all about getting to the stage where we’re consistently on the pace. We shouldn’t underestimate the task we’ve got in front of us but, all the same, we’ll be doing our best to get a good result for the
Subaru supporters.”
Subaru sporting director, Luis Moya meanwhile has warned that they need to remain realistic in the countdown to their home event: "Our record in Japan so far has been good; we’ve either won or led by a large margin. This year, however, we have to be realistic about what we can achieve," he noted. "We were encouraged by the step forward in performance in Finland, particularly by Chris [Atkinson]’s times on Sunday, but it will be a tough event. Petter [Solberg] has a good chance of a podium, which would be very satisfying for the army of Subaru fans we expect to be there, while Chris’s pace in Finland shows he’s capable of achieving a similar finish to his 2005 result. Of course we look forward to welcoming Toshi [Arai] back to the team for the first time since 2001 [in our ‘third’ car]; it will be very interesting to see him perform on his home rally in a WRC car."
Manufacturer 2.
OMV Peugeot Norway WRT:
[Manfred Stohl, car #7].
OMV Peugeot's Manfred Stohl reckons a podium finish might be a possibility for him on the Rally Japan. Stohl has never competed on the event before, however as only eleven drivers' will be in WRC cars and a number of them also have yet to experience the round, the Austrian is extremely upbeat. Indeed it could be his best chance to repeat his Rally Mexico podium earlier this year and significantly add to the 24 points he has notched up thus far.
