Petter: Not a bad start...

Subaru's number one driver, Petter Solberg has said that he is 'pretty happy' following the opening leg of the Rallye Monte Carlo.

Solberg set the fourth best time on SS1 on Thursday night, before traction problems on SS2 cost him time and he slipped from fourth to fifth overall. 'Hollywood' will now start the second day on Friday 5.9 seconds off Mikko Hirvonen in fourth and 2.5 seconds off his team-mate, Chris Atkinson, who finished the opening leg in sixth place.

"Not a bad start to the rally at all," said the Norwegian at the overnight halt. "The first stage was particularly good for us, but on the second one we struggled a little in some of the dirtier sections, where it was extremely slippery and we were a bit down on traction.

"Overall I'm pretty happy though. We made no mistakes, the tyres worked well and we are in a good position ahead of the next three days of competition."

Speaking earlier in the day, in the pre-event press conference, Petter conceded that it is going to be difficult for him to match the pace of Citroen's Sebastien Loeb or Ford's Marcus Gronholm, the two pre-event favourites.

"I think to keep up with these guys for the next three rallies will be tough, but we have new tyres - that should be very interesting. It can make a more equal field on some stages, but for maximum attack it will be tough I think, but I will definitely try," he noted.

"Saying that though, I'm not putting any pressure on myself - if I'm sixth or seventh, I don't care - we want some points in the pocket. We have been unlucky, last year with the oil cooler. We have the same car as last year, it was reliable in GB, but I don't know [how we will do], we will see.

"The focus is on the Mexico car - it's a big step. If we can come through the next three rallies with 20 points we'll be happy. That's the plan."