“Our first gravel rally in Mexico has already been very satisfying. I am sure that we can do even better in Portugal since our car has been overhauled,” he added. “Even though I don’t know the special stages in this part of Portugal I am still convinced that they should be to my liking. I am very confident that we will score points at this fifth run in the
FIA World Rally Championship.”
Subaru WRT:
[
Petter Solberg, car #7 and
Chris Atkinson, car #8.]
Subaru World Rally team managing director, Richard Taylor has said that ‘if all goes well’ they hope to be challenging for a place on the podium in Portugal. The Algarve-based event will be a significant one for the Banbury-based outfit as it is the second with its new 2007 spec Impreza WRC.
Furthermore after a highly promising debut outing in Mexico, during which Petter Solberg led on day one and Chris Atkinson eventually finished fifth, Subaru will be keen to show that wasn’t a one-off.
“The entire team was very pleased with the performance of the new car on its first event in Mexico,” said Taylor. “Since that rally we have been working on some small details to further improve the car for Portugal. Our target for this rally is to get both Petter and Chris in the top five and, if all goes well, to challenge for a place on the podium.”
Petter is feeling upbeat about their prospects and believes that he can get a good result.
“After the performance of the team in Mexico I’m really looking forward to Portugal,” he added. “The rally is new for everybody and I’m interested to see how competitive we are. The development of the new Impreza has continued since Mexico, so we will see if we can be even faster than we were there.
“It’s true that we don’t know the stages, no-one does, but we will do everything we can to prepare and I’m confident that it will be a very positive event for us.”
Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally team:
[
Jari-Matti Latvala, car #9 and
Henning Solberg, car #10]
Henning Solberg has stated that he will ‘take things steady’ in Portugal, no doubt mindful that he won’t want to repeat his Mexico mishap.
