"I really love driving on snow. Unfortunately this has not yet brought in a good final result. But I am convinced that we will be able to compete for points this weekend," he vowed. "The Xsara WRC is definitely competitive. Now it is up to us and I hope to meet some requited love this time around in Sweden – since I really like this rally very much."
Prior to the event, Stohl and Carlsson both took part in a one-day test on Monday and OMV Kronos team boss, Marc van Dalen was delighted with the results. Furthermore despite some technical glitches, which slowed Stohl on the Rallye Monte Carlo, he reckons that they shouldn’t have any such problems this time out.
"We didn’t have much time for preparation prior to the first rally in Monte Carlo," he conceded, "but this time around we are perfectly prepared and very confident for the Sweden Rally."
Subaru WRT:
[
Petter Solberg, car #7 and
Chris Atkinson, car #8.]
Petter Solberg has predicted that the Banbury-based outfit will be able to repeat its Monte points double this weekend in Sweden. Solberg managed to finish in sixth at the Principality and while there is no doubt he would like to have done a bit better, the Norwegian is well aware that the teams fortunes won’t change overnight, especially as they won’t switch to the 2007 spec Impreza until Mexico. Despite that though, Petter noted that things are ‘improving all the time’.
“It’s great to be back on snow again for the next two rallies. Last year we did not have much luck in Sweden, but the year before I won here, so I have some good memories,” said ‘Hollywood’, who has contested the Swedish Rally eight times to date.
“It was good for the team to have both cars in the points in Monte Carlo last month. I think we can do the same on this rally, but we will have to wait and see exactly what result we are capable of, because there are a lot of good drivers out there. The car is improving all the time, but I will know a lot more after I drive the car during our pre-event test.”
