"I have never rallied in Ireland before so it will be very new for me, but I am looking forward to it. The fans in Ireland are rally-mad which is really good. It's always nice to drive in front of people who are really into it.
"It would have been good to do a few rallies earlier in the year to get a feel for the surface, but still we prepare and focus 110 per cent. It will be very interesting I think, especially with the chance that the 2007 championship can be decided there."
Subaru too are anticipating a good event, because while they haven't competed there as of yet, the success customer teams using the Impreza have had over the years should work to their advantage.
"We haven't had the opportunity to test in Ireland this year, but we have the benefit of knowledge gained by the many customer cars that are running and winning in Ireland," added SWRT managing director Richard Taylor.
"We know it's going to be a great challenge with very different tarmac roads to any other round and we're looking forward to it. It will be very exciting that there will likely be more Subaru WRC cars than at any other World Championship rally. I hope that we and all the other Subaru entries will put on a strong performance for the fans."
Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally team:
[
Jari-Matti Latvala, car #9,
Henning Solberg, car #10 [and
Matthew Wilson, car #16 - not nominated for manufacturers’ points]]
New co-driver for Henning, Latvala and Wilson Jr both have prior experience.
Henning Solberg will have a new co-driver for the Rally Ireland, as his regular co-pilot, Cato Menkerud has had to sit-out this event as he and his wife, Charlotte, are awaiting the imminent birth of their child. As such Swedish co-driver Göran Bergsten has been drafted in to fill the void.
The event will be a tough one though for the new pairing and like the previous three WRC events it will be another step into the unknown for Henning, who will be tackling the Irish roads for this first time in his career.
![Marcus Gronholm (FIN) / Timo Rautiainen (FIN) - BP Ford Focus WRC. Galway International Rally, February 3-4 2007. [Pic credit: Ford / worldrallypics.com]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/286908.jpg)
