Petter Solberg's co-driver, Phil Mills has said that they will be looking to bring their car home in the points on the season opening, Rallye Monte Carlo, in less than two weeks time.
Solberg and Mills had a tough time in 2006 and while they took four podiums, such results were more the exception than the norm. Phil however, is hopeful that they will be able to get better results this year, even if they will have to make do with the 2006-spec Subaru Impreza WRC car, until the new model is introduced for the Rally Mexico, the fourth round in the 2007
FIA World Rally Championship.
"Naturally you always feel like you could use more testing, but things are looking promising," Mills told the Subaru
World Rally Team's official website,
www.swrt.com. "We had a very good test on BFGoodrich tyres before Christmas in France, where we also got to work on the set-up of the car and try some new things, so we're quite happy going into the new season.
"In Monte Carlo everybody has a clean sheet and zero points. We're starting all over again and I don't imagine we could have another year as tough as 2006. Monte Carlo hasn't been the kindest event for us in the past, but if we can bring the car home in the points we'll be happy."
The Rallye Monte Carlo will be very different this season and with a new route and two night stages on the Thursday, it is definitely going to present a challenge. Mills however isn't overly concerned.
"The roads we tested on before Christmas were very similar to what we are likely to find on the stages of this rally," he added. "I would estimate that about 90 per cent of rally will be like the test and the rest we can cope with.
"Driving at night won't be a problem, although we haven't seen the stages yet. So far we've only seen snippets of the stages on video, but the conditions will be the same for everyone."
As for the tactics they will adopt, Phil reckons it is absolutely crucial they get to the end: "It is important to start the year with some points in the bag," he confirmed.
"If you record a non-finish and get no points, it is such a hollow feeling and you feel like you're playing catch up for the rest of the season - your start position is wrong for the snow rallies in Sweden and Norway and so on. So a good strong start is exactly what we need," he concluded.
