"Another win isn't a realistic aim and I would be happy with a top three position. I was very satisfied with our pre-event test. Pirelli's tyres felt strong. I had a couple of impacts with stones but no punctures so I have no concerns."
Subaru WRT:
[
Petter Solberg, car #5 and
Chris Atkinson, car #6]
Petter: We’ve made progress.
Petter Solberg will go into the Rally Mexico boosted by a good pre-event test.
'Hollywood' has had a solid start to the 2008 season and has notched up nine points thus far, thanks to a fifth place finish at the Principality and a fourth more recently in Sweden.
Following round two in the championship the Norwegian went straight to Spain, where the Subaru WRT conducted a four-day gravel test. Petter ran for two and a half days, while team-mate Chris Atkinson took over for the remainder.
Both worked on developing a set-up for this weekend’s event, in addition to testing Pirelli’s new gravel tyre and working on suspension and damper components in what was the final test for the Impreza WRC2007 as emphasis now shifts to the new ‘08 car.
'Hollywood' was happy with the work done and reckons they definitely made some progress. Despite that though and his good form in Mexico - he has finished on the podium twice in the last two years, winning it in 2005 - he remains cautious.
"We go to Mexico knowing that we have won here in the past, but we don’t approach it any differently to Monte or Sweden," he explained. "We made some good steps forward in the pre-event test, so we go to Mexico with a good set-up. We’ll drive our own rally, push as hard as we can and see what happens.
"I hope we will be strong again here as it’s good for everyone if we can be fighting at the front."
Atkinson is also after a strong result and reckons that the Impreza WRC cars strong engine could give him and Petter a bit of an advantage.
