“As we prepare for Rallye Deutschland we are confident of a competitive performance from all three of our cars following the highly encouraging asphalt test we conducted in Germany in July,” Taylor explained. “Petter, Chris and Xevi were able to see real progress in the
Subaru Impreza WRC2007's speed on the sealed surface roads.
“We are therefore looking forward to the first of the four sealed surface events in the second half of the season. Although the competition in Germany is sure to be intense our objective is to bring all three cars to the finish in points-scoring positions.”
Petter Solberg meanwhile was definitely pleased with their pre-event preparation for Germany, as he enjoyed what he described as probably his ‘best sealed surface test ever’ with the Impreza WRC2007.
Although Finland was a nightmare event for him, ‘Hollywood’ seems to be quite bullish ahead of the Rallye Deutschland.
“The cars are working well on asphalt at the moment and the test at the beginning of last month was encouraging,” he noted. “I’ve been doing some go-karting in Norway, using it as a little bit of training and trying to get a better feeling of driving on asphalt before Germany.
“The test last month went well; I think it was the best sealed surface test ever for us so I’m feeling good about it and really looking forward to it,” he added.
Solberg’s record in Germany though isn’t especially spectacular and he has yet to finish and score ‘good’ points. Indeed his best result came in 2005, when he finished seventh, having lost time due to a gearshift issue, while he also scored points in 2003, when he came home in eighth.
Other than that he hasn’t made it to the end and he has had some big offs there, including a crash in 2004 and one in the shakedown last year. He was eventually forced out in ’06 due to engine problems.
