"I’m very confident about New Zealand, because it has always been a good rally for us in the past,” said ‘Hollywood’. “We were strong in Australia and hopefully can improve a little bit more on that.”
As for if he can win though, like he did in NZ in 2004, Solberg remains guarded: “I’m really hoping to win again soon, but we have to take things step-by-step,” he continued. “I know the team is working very hard, so we’ll just have to wait and see how things turn out.”
Chris Atkinson meanwhile will be looking forward to a bit of a change of fortune, after a somewhat frustrating season. He is expecting it to be a tough event, but despite that though he is still targeting a top five finish and reckons that a podium could be possible, if he has a bit of good luck.
“It’s going to be a tough rally with some long stages,” said Atkinson. “We’ll be looking to continue the good pace we showed at the beginning of Rally Australia, although I’ll be looking forward to a bit of a change of fortune too. I’ve done Rally New Zealand twice before – last year I finished seventh with
Subaru and the year before that I was driving a Group N Impreza – but we’re going to be using some new roads for this year. In terms of a result, we’d hope to be running in the top five and if we can do that, there’s always the chance of being in the hunt for a podium.”
Manufacturer 2.
OMV Peugeot Norway WRT:
[Manfred Stohl, car #7 and
Henning Solberg, car #8].
Manfred Stohl gave OMV Peugeot their third podium finish of the season in Australia, something that was made all the more special as it was Bozian’s 100th outing in the WRC.
The Austrian is likely to again figure this weekend, although his team-mate, Henning Solberg will be up against it after having crashed out in Perth, something that heavily damaged his 307. Bozian, who run the cars for the OMV Peugeot team, have had to fly out a new Peugeot and so the Norwegian will have to make maximum use of the recce and the shakedown to get to grips with his new car and to dial it in.
