Petter Solberg admitted that he had done all he could to try and reclaim second place on the final leg of Wales Rally GB after an eventful conclusion to the
Subaru drivers 2006 WRC campaign.
Chasing a fifth straight win in the Welsh forests, Solberg had seen his victory chances disappear on the second leg, when an off on the first run through Crychan was followed by damaged steering when he hit a gatepost on the second run through Epynt to drop down to third.
However, on the opening run through Brechfa on Sunday morning, Solberg showed he wasn't giving up hope of overturning the near 50 second gap to second placed Manfred Stohl, completing the 28.89km some 16 seconds faster than his OMV Peugeot rival.
Before he chance to repeat the feat in the second stage though, a puncture saw Solberg spin and lose the time he had made up earlier in the morning. Fastest stage times on the repeat run of the two stages in the afternoon enabled the Norwegian to close to within 20 seconds of Stohl's Peugeot at the finish and despite a difficult end to his season, the former champion was happy with a place on the podium.
I tried everything I could do and that is the main thing, Petter admitted. I got third place and have fought all weekend but many things have happened over the three days. However, that is life.
It was a difficult day, but the stage times we set were very competitive and that was encouraging. I set a very fast time on the first stage, but the puncture and spin we had in the second test made it impossible to overtake Manfred Stohl. We were quick again after that, but the gap to second place was too big, so we had to settle for third.
I'm not too unhappy with that result in the last rally of the season. It is good for the team and also for Pirelli, I would like to thank them because we've had lots of good rallies together. I was enjoying the stages in the afternoon and the pace we were setting shows that next year, when things are going better for us, I think we will be very fast.
Solberg ends the season sixth in the drivers' championship standings.
