The last five years have had some very similar stages in Rally GB so it is nice to have something new and different. Those stages on Friday are fast, open and quite wide and I really like the character of the roads, but on the recce they were covered by two to three centimetres of snow. I don't know what it is like there now but still there will be ice patches in some places and it will be quite slippy. It will be difficult to find the grip in those stages.

Q:
Some of the current WRC drivers haven't seen these new stages but you have, of course, back in 2002. Will that give you an advantage?

J-ML:
In 2002 I did some national rallies in the Sweet Lamb area and I loved it but the stages are in a different way than when I last drove them.

Q:
Petter, Wales Rally GB may not be your home event but for many people it is your event; your first WRC win was here in 2002 followed by the Championship title here the following year. In the grand scheme of things how does this rally rate for you?

Petter Solberg:
It's a very good rally – actually incredible. I think we have a chance to be good here and fight for victory again. We did some good testing before the rally and we improved the car before Rally Japan also, and saw some stage wins there so it would be nice to get a victory here. It will be tough, very hard, but I am going to go absolutely mad on this rally to get a victory for the team and the mechanics who have worked so hard. We will have to see what will happen. The weather will play a big part on this event. We have more snow here than we have had in Sweden for the last couple of years and we had studded tyres there! We will see – the first thing we have to remember is the safety.

Q:
The new car debuted in Greece, the team have been developing it through the events and in Japan we seemed to see a step forward again in terms of performance. Is it ready to take its maiden win?

PS:
Obviously it has been quite hard for everybody. We should have been faster and that's it. We can tell exactly where and why. A lot of things have been down to homologation and the car came early – a lot of excuses, but now we just have to work hard at getting Subaru back on the top and fighting. But we have done some good things to the car while testing for this rally which should help with consistency in terms of fighting for stage wins.

Q:
I believe the car has caught the attention of Royalty, with His Royal Highness Prince Phillip visiting Prodrive last week. How did that go?

PS:
It was very fascinating and it was very nice for him to look at the David Richards museum. He was interested in all the technical things and it really opened his eyes I think to how advanced this sport is. It is good that people like that have an interest – it is the same in Norway where the Royal family are interested in motorsport.

Q:
The team has been through difficult times, but how difficult has it been to remain upbeat and positive?

PS:
I have been very loyal to Subaru and I know I can get them back to the top again next year. Things have improved and we have been in good times and bad together. Unfortunately it's not been a great year for me but it can happen to anyone. That's how it is. I am looking positive and a lot of good things are coming now for the winter testing.

Q: