Subaru set to go for win or bust in Germany.

The ADAC Rallye Deutschland and the other asphalt events, in France and Spain, could be the deciding factor in terms of the championship now, that's the prediction of Subaru team boss David Lapworth, as the World Rally Championship heads to Trier for round ten of the championship.

Speaking following a disappointing result in Finland, in which both Petter Solberg and Mikko Hirvonen went out on leg one, Lapworth added that in some ways the championship task is easier now, as it is a case of win or bust.

"Germany is the first of the three pure tarmac events and is significant for us as it's the first time we'll compete with the Subaru Impreza WRC2004 on this surface," he commented. "Performance on asphalt is likely to be a deciding factor in the Championship now, especially with three such events coming up from the next seven.

"We're hopeful as a lot of the work we've done on the new car, such as aerodynamics and suspension geometry, has a bigger effect on tarmac than it does on gravel. And, as we've shown the step forward the car has already made on gravel, we're hoping it will be an even bigger step on tarmac.

"A difficult aspect for the drivers in Germany is that the stages are all very different in nature, both to each other and anything else in the Championship. They don't flow as they do on a traditional asphalt rally, which makes it hard for drivers to get into a rhythm.

"In Germany it's full throttle, hanging on, hanging on some more, then brake and turn, while on a classic asphalt rally you go left and right and left and right and left, and it flows from one corner to the next. It's much easier to get a feeling for the braking points and the balance of the car. In Germany there are sections where you're on a dead straight and there's no feedback at all. You don't get any feeling for the level of grip, or balance of the car and then you've got to brake into a sharp corner. That's much more difficult.

"Looking to Petter, in a way the Championship task is easier now - we will go everywhere to try and win. The difficulty in Germany is the changeable weather. What we've seen in the last couple of years is that if it's a wet event, it can be very difficult. You have to be tactical and it's all about measured risk. You either go extremely fast and take big risks, or adopt a more cautious approach, concentrate on getting to the finish and let the others gamble with their places. However, if it's dry - it will be more of a sprint and Petter will have to go for it.

"Mikko [meanwhile] is following a development programme that was created for him at the beginning of the year and in the first half of the season it wasn't based on flat-out performance. Obviously, before the end of the season sheer speed has to come into the equation and we haven't made any secret about the fact that on the next few rallies we'll be looking at how fast he can go. But, there's no specific deadline or targets for what he needs to achieve. We're ticking off the boxes as we go and we're only just getting round to the how-fast-can-he-go box. As far as we're concerned he's on course and we're now moving into the next phase of his programme."