Subaru's
Petter Solberg will want to stop the 'rot' this weekend in Sardinia and put an end to his recent run of misfortune that has dogged him on the last three rounds in Mexico, Argentina and Jordan.
Petter retired for the second event in succession at the end of last month and currently is only joint seventh in the drivers' championship - equal with his brother Henning, both having scored 9 points.
'Hollywood' has done the Rally d'Italia Sardegna every year since it joined the WRC in 2004 and while he won the first event and was second in 2005, he didn't do quite so well in 2006 and 2007, finishing ninth and fifth respectively.
"Sardinia is very tough as the surface is very soft and there are lots of ruts on the second passes. We've won there before, and I will go there pushing hard, but it is never an easy rally, so we will just see," he said cautiously.
"The team has been working hard since Jordan so I hope we will be able to go well there."
Subaru team boss David Richards meanwhile is eager to see Petter get onto the podium, something he hasn't achieved now since last summer, when he was third on the Acropolis Rally of Greece.
"Sardinia presents a completely different challenge to the last round of the Championship in Jordan only two weeks ago," added DR.
"Our test team has been working extremely hard to resolve the problems that Petter encountered with his shock absorbers and I am confident we have made significant progress in this respect.
"Petter has won this event before so I am sure he goes into it with confidence and hoping that all our work has been worthwhile, enabling him to challenge strongly for a podium position."
