"I think I can do it," said Gronholm, who won the last round of the championship, the Acropolis Rally of Greece at the start of June. "I've been close to winning previously. It won't be easy because Loeb has won four times in Germany and he is good in the slippery conditions that we often find there. It would be good to beat him and shake him up a little though. The Focus RS is good enough and now it is up to the driver. We tested in two locations, on Baumholder and in the vineyards, and I have good experience from that."
Gronholm and team-mate,
Mikko Hirvonen meanwhile will be boosted by an engine upgrade for this round, which will increase the top-end speed on the Focus. Hirvonen has set his sights on notching up his third podium of the season this Sunday, to add to those achieved in Sardinia and Greece.
"I think there are many rallies in the second half of the season where I can fight for a podium," he stated. "BP-Ford is second and still has a chance of the manufacturers' title so I need to score as many points as possible and that will be my target for the rest of the year. I have a chance of a top three in Germany but it won't be easy.”
"This event is difficult because each day has different stages and the team has to make set-up changes to the car for each type of road. They are all fast but I enjoy the Sunday stages in Saarland the best. They are more traditional as the roads cross fields and pass through forests but drivers cut the corners so there can be a lot of gravel and mud dragged onto the road. Baumholder [on day two] is tricky. There are so many surface changes that it is hard to judge what kind of traction there is. It often rains and that makes the rally even more difficult and makes tyre choice hard," he added.
555 Subaru World Rally Team:
[
Petter Solberg, car #5 and Stephane Sarrazin, car #6.]
Subaru number one driver, Petter Solberg has revealed that the important thing for them this weekend in Germany is to demonstrate that they have improved on asphalt after disappointing performances in Spain and France.
