Subaru team leader,
Petter Solberg has admitted that the Banbury-based squad face a lot of hard work if they are to get back on terms with Kronos
Citroen and BP Ford, following another disappointing event in Japan.
Solberg went into the event hoping he could at least get a podium on the team's home round, however he was a highly frustrated seventh come the finish on Sunday, having been slowed by a number of issues, principally brake related, which destroyed any real hopes of a decent result in his Subaru Impreza WRC.
"We watched the battle at the top of the rally and I just wish I was involved," said 'Hollywood' post-event. "I can't wait to get back into those fights again, but for now we have some problems and we need to work together as a team to find the solutions. It's difficult not just for me, but everyone."
"There's a lot of hard work from all of us to be done and I hope that at the next event we can be getting a bit closer," he added.
Subaru WRT managing director, Richard Taylor meanwhile was also bitterly disappointed, although he did take some comfort from the form of
Chris Atkinson and Toshi Arai in the sister cars, the former finishing in a strong fourth place, while the latter was sixth, on his first outing in a
World Rally Car since 2001. He conceded though that they will have to re-double their efforts for the future.
"We came to Japan with the target of achieving a podium and we have missed that, so clearly we are not satisfied," noted Taylor. "However all our drivers put in strong performances with Chris missing the podium by just one place and Toshi did a very good job in his return to the team. Petter was unfortunate to suffer most from the car problems but was very competitive when the car ran well. We have to keep working very hard to resolve the technical issues that have prevented us achieving our objectives. From here the team will re-double the effort back at the factory and in Japan to ensure that we can again consistently compete at the top of the leaderboard and win events."
