Henning Solberg's hopes of claiming his first-ever WRC points on asphalt disappeared early on the inaugural Rally Ireland when he crashed out on the first day.
The
Stobart Ford man, who had been running in sixth place, went off in SS8 - the 22.25 kilometre-run through Glenboy, when he briefly lost concentration in a tricky corner and hit a rock. He then bounced back over the road and down an embankment into a tree.
Although he could re-start on day 2 under the SupeRally by then he was too far back to achieve much and he just paced himself through the second and third legs, eventually finishing 16th overall - albeit around 10 minutes off Gareth MacHale, who secured the final drivers' point.
Henning's only consolation was that he was the sixth runner home registered to score manufacturers' points and his tally, in combination with the six points picked up by his team-mate,
Jari-Matti Latvala, lifted the Stobart team up to third in the rankings, one point in front of
Subaru.
“This has been a difficult weekend for me but to claim some manufacturer points and help move the team up to third makes it worthwhile,” he stated.
“We struggled in the muddy conditions but when the grip was constant I actually set some pretty good times and this has probably been my best feeling with the car on tarmac.
“Göran [Bergsten – who stood in for my regular co-driver] has done a fantastic job here but after my mistake on Friday we were really just cruising to the finish.
“This is my third new event in a row and I have scored manufacturer points on all three so I'm happy with this achievement.”
