"I had a good rally in Spain, but I think Corsica can be better and I would like to challenge for victory. I feel confident because Rally de Espaņa was good training for Corsica. This is a difficult rally and hard for a driver, but that's the type of challenge I enjoy."
Khalid Al Qassimi:
"I've never seen the stages in Corsica and never been to the island. Having finished Spain, I can go there with another asphalt event under my belt, with more confidence and ready to really give it my all. This is the final asphalt event of the season so it's important I continue to make progress. Next year there are many changes to the WRC calendar and there will be many new events for me where experience and mileage will be the keys to success."
Subaru WRT:
[
Petter Solberg, car #5 and
Chris Atkinson, car #6 and Brice Tirabassi, car #14]
Petter Solberg:
"Spain and Corsica are completely different events as the nature of the roads is different and the surface is much more abrasive. The biggest thing though is that they are so close together. It doesn't necessarily make it tougher on drivers and it's not because it's physically hard, but because normally if you are fast on one rally, you are fast on the next. You build the confidence. And if you are slow on one rally, you are slow on the next. There's no time for teams to really work on the cars between the two either."
Chris Atkinson:
"The roads are much more bumpy and narrow in Corsica, so it does demand different things from you in the car. The cars all react a lot more to the bumps than they did in Spain, so there is a lot more work to do in predicting and feeling where and when they are going to bounce and move. I think you can definitely carry confidence from Spain into Corsica. While it's generally the case, you can't just assume that a good feeling in Spain will lead to the same in France though. It's the second part of a very important series of rallies that could set you up well for the last part of the season so you can't take anything for granted."
Brice Tirabassi:
"Corsica is my home event and I am very excited to be doing the rally in a works Impreza. It's a fantastic opportunity for me, and after the experience of Spain I want to push myself and the car a little bit harder. I've had more experience of WRC cars in Corsica than in Spain, so I hope this will help my performance. It's also nice because Fabrice lives in Corsica, so I think we'll have lots of support."
For more see Part 2 of our preview for the Rallye de France-Tour de Corse.
