Subaru team leader
Petter Solberg was left bitterly disappointed in Argentina on Sunday when he was forced out with second place in the bag.
The Norwegian had enjoyed a great event, overhauling his team-mate,
Chris Atkinson for the runners-up spot in the first stage on Saturday morning, before proceeding to pull away and ending the leg almost 50 seconds in front.
On the final day however, it all went wrong when he suffered a complete electrical failure mid-day through the first stage of the morning, the 24.70 kilometre run through Mina Clavere-Giulio Cesare.
The problem denied him his best result since the Rally Portugal in April last year - and his first podium since the Acropolis Rally of Greece in June '07.
"I am desperately disappointed for Petter and Phil [Mills – his co-driver]," said Subaru team boss, David Richards. "Petter is showing such renewed enthusiasm since we've got the car more to his liking, and despite this setback I'm feeling increasingly confident for the rest of the season."
Petter himself meanwhile was keeping his feelings to himself after his retirement and made no comment – at least in the official release issued by the SWRT.
Speaking at the end of day two though, he had clearly been on 'cloud nine' having topped the times in five of the days nine stages.
"It's been a really good day, I mean I really, really enjoyed this afternoon," he stated. "The car worked very well first thing this morning, and then I lost a bit of the feeling in the conditions, but in the afternoon it was really good.
"Everything worked and we pushed hard but without taking big risks or making any mistakes. The guys have worked so hard, and they made some changes in service that really worked and after that it's been really good.
"We have to finish with both cars and the Manufacturers points are very important, but we are in a good position. We'll drive fast tomorrow but try to take it a little bit carefully as anything can still happen..."
