Petter Solberg's latest outing in his privately-entered Citroen Xsara WRC came to an end early on the Neste Oil Rally Finland last weekend, but he is already looking ahead to his next outing in the WRC.
Solberg had been running strongly initially in Jyväskylä, the ninth round in the 2009 World Rally Championship, and he was up to second overall post-SS3, 7.1 seconds behind eventual rally winner, Mikko Hirvonen.
However the next test didn't go well when he got his Xsara WRC stuck in a ditch. Although he eventually finished the stage - albeit having lost over 6 minutes - he later opted to withdraw from the leg and re-start under the SupeRally.
Saturday saw 'Hollywood' re-join, but now he was way down the order, in 74th place, and while he pushed on and was ninth fastest in SS11 and seventh quickest in SS12, he reported that his Xsara was down on power and he then had a suspension mount break in SS13 when he hit a rock.
He eventually stopped for good in service E, prior to the repeat-run through the 21.35 kilometre Leustu 2 test, SS14.
"Yesterday morning the engine was perfect and everything was going well [and we were second overall]. But then we got a puncture which made us go wide just before the finish [of Mokkipera 1] and into a ditch," Solberg said.
"Today the engine is not working properly. There's no power, we cannot make a proper attack, so it's better to stop to avoid more damage. We just have to get the car fixed ready in time for our next outing now."
Ken Rees, team manager for the Petter Solberg World Rally Team, meanwhile added that there was nothing to gain by continuing given they were so far down the order.
"When Petter went out first thing this morning, he reported that the engine felt like it had lost 20 per cent of its power," Rees stated. "Essentially there is no power and there is also little drive and motivation.
"He had to start 74th under the SupeRally format this morning and went quite well. But then the right hand suspension top mount failed when he clipped a rock. Putting a temporary repair cost him 1 minute 30 seconds on the last stage [of the loop, SS13] and that effectively was that."
