OMV Kronos
Citroen team boss, Marc van Dalen is confident though that his Belgian-based squad can have another good year, following all the successes they had in ’06 with
Sebastien Loeb,
Daniel Sordo and Xavier Pons.
“Last year the title win by Loeb and the second place in the manufacturers’ ranking meant it was a sensational season for us. But I am also convinced that we will reach many excellent results and be good for several surprises this year, as well,” he added. “The car is perfect, the team does a brilliant job and I am sure of Manfred’s and Ilka [Minor]’s class. A lot is possible.”
For the record, Daniel Carlsson will begin his season on the next event in Sweden. He is due to do ‘at least’ six rounds.
Subaru WRT:
[
Petter Solberg, car #7 and
Chris Atkinson, car #8.]
Subaru team leader, Petter Solberg has said that he is expecting the Banbury-based outfit to be a lot more competitive this season. Although Solberg conceded that he will ‘really have to push’ in Monte Carlo - and in Sweden and Norway - to get some good results, due to the fact he won’t get the ‘new car’ until Mexico, the fourth round in the 2007
FIA World Rally Championship, he is still optimistic.
“2006 was a difficult time for all of us, but I feel like we are able to get back on track now. It will be a tough challenge, because we do not exactly know where we are compared to our main rivals, but some things have been improved on the car that we will use in Monte Carlo, Sweden and Norway, and that should make us a lot more competitive,” he explained.
“Monte Carlo is always difficult for us, with the snow and ice on the roads, but we tested with BFGoodrich in December and I was very happy with the performance of the tyres. I think we could be much stronger on the asphalt events this season.
”I’m sure that with all the hard work everyone has been putting in back at base and with the new car we will be able to start to fight for the championship again this year. When we get the new car we will try to take things to the next level.”
