Disaster for Subaru, Solberg, Hirvonen both out.

After a promising start on today [Friday]'s first leg of the Neste Rally Finland, there was disappointment for the Subaru team when both Petter Solberg and Mikko Hirvonen retired from the event.

Solberg became the first casualty of the unforgiving high-speed stages when his car left the road and sustained suspension damage after a collision with a rock in stage four. He had been running third overall.

"It's a very big disappointment," he reflected. "I really wanted to get a good points finish here, and to retire on the first day is so frustrating let me tell you.

"The accident itself didn't seem too bad. I lost my concentration just for one small moment and we went wide. The car didn't spin but we dropped off the road and into the ditch. As we were coming to a stop I was sure we would be back on the road in no time at all, it certainly wasn't a big accident, but then we hit that one rock in the grass and that was that.

"The guys will get things fixed today and I'm going to start the rally again tomorrow, it's all good experience. As for the result, well that's just too bad. The thing to do now is to put it behind us, keep positive and move on."

Mikko Hirvonen's encouraging performance on his home event meanwhile came to an abrupt end when he too slid wide on a corner on the last stage of the day.

"I still can't quite believe what's happened," he noted. "Things seemed to be going well, but on the Super Special stage, I made a mistake on the line into a tight, right-hand corner. I tried to correct it, but it was so slippery I got caught out and drove straight into a metal barrier. That broke one side of the front suspension, I tried to continue, but the car immediately swerved to the other barrier which broke the other side and that was it.

"Retiring from a rally is bad enough, but to do it on a Super Special stage makes the whole thing much worse. Of course you have to drive fast all the time during a rally, but to make such a mistake in front of crowds including your family and friends is a pretty bad feeling. Of course I really hope to be able to restart, we'll just have to see what the guys can do to the car when it comes back."

Team boss, David Lapworth could only echo the disappointment of his drivers.

"We started the day encouraged by Petter's pace. He began confidently and felt he was in a very strong position after the first couple of stages. Perhaps that made it even more frustrating when things took a turn for the worse," he summed up.

"We all share Petter's disappointment about what happened. Like all World Champions he's a highly motivated individual and as a close team we're with him all the way, through the highs and the lows. But mistakes happen, and everyone here understands that we have to deal with it and move on. In some respects it makes it easier for us, we have no option now than to push for victory on all the remaining events.

"Mikko's day also started well but regrettably ended in similar circumstances. He'd set some encouraging times earlier in the day and it's a shame that his accident occurred on such a relatively straightforward stage. Until the car is recovered and brought back to service we wont be able to judge whether or not he will be able to carry on tomorrow."