Despite winning the four traditional stages on the final day of the Acropolis Rally, Subaru's
Petter Solberg was again left with little to show for his efforts, having been taken out of leg two by a collision on a road section.
The Norwegian was running in the top three at the time of the accident, which saw him end up in the scenery while trying to avoid an errant spectator's car, but dropped down the order as the result of time imposed for missing the final section of the day. Although the Impreza was not badly damaged, and Solberg was able to show a turn of pace on the final morning, the gap between himself and the podium was too large to overcome on just four stages and a superspecial. He eventually recovered to seventh, the five-minute penalty imposed effectively costing second place.
The result was just another disappointment for Solberg in what is becoming a morale-sapping campaign, but the Norwegian tried hard to find positives in his Greek performance.
"I'm really disappointed as I just did not deserve this luck this weekend," he sighed, "Despite the accident, however, I've got to say that we have seen some very good improvements in the car and it looks positive.
"After what happened on Saturday, I concentrated on doing my best during the last leg and winning four of the five stages today is confirmation of that. The car went well on the third leg, and the tyres really performed in the best possible way. It is true that the result does not enthuse me, especially when you consider I was aiming for something much more than seventh place, but that's motorsport.
"We need to take the positive points and put them into a package - and I know we can get there. The team are going to be busy all through the summer, but we know where we can improve and we are not going to give up. We'll be back."
