Loss of brakes ruins everything for Petter.
Petter Solberg's hopes of being able to battle for the lead on the Rally d'Italia Sardegna vanished on the second loop on Friday afternoon when brake problems left him with 'no chance' of staying in touch with the leaders.
Petter finished the morning loop in third place overall, just 6.8 seconds off P1. However his chances of trying to close that gap were dashed before the afternoon loop even began when he picked up a ten second penalty when work on a rear brake caliper overran and he left service one minute late.
Petter Solberg's hopes of being able to battle for the lead on the Rally d'Italia Sardegna vanished on the second loop on Friday afternoon when brake problems left him with 'no chance' of staying in touch with the leaders.
Petter finished the morning loop in third place overall, just 6.8 seconds off P1. However his chances of trying to close that gap were dashed before the afternoon loop even began when he picked up a ten second penalty when work on a rear brake caliper overran and he left service one minute late.
On the SS4 though the Norwegian reported further difficulties with the rear brakes on his Impreza WRC and he was left trying to fight with one hand tied behind his back. He eventually finished the afternoon stages in sixth place overall, but now over a minute off the lead.
"We got off to a really good start today, and after service we were going well too - matching the pace of Marcus [Gronholm] and Sebastien [Loeb] on the first couple of splits on SS4 - but then we lost the brakes and that ruined everything," he reflected. "I did my best in the circumstances, but with no brakes we had no chance and now we've dropped a long way back.
"From being in a position where we were fighting for the lead it's pretty frustrating, and I almost couldn't believe it, when I knew what was happening. Still, we've shown that we can be in the fight and tomorrow, when the car is back to 100 per cent I'll do all I can to get the time back."
Subaru WRT managing director, Richard Taylor meanwhile paid tribute to his number one driver for the way he coped with the problem, especially as he still managed to set reasonably good times, given the circumstances - indeed Petter was seventh quickest in SS4 and SS6 and sixth fastest in SS5.
"Petter experienced some problems with the brakes from SS4 and we have to take our hats off to him for the way he managed to drive around the issue and then carry out interim repairs on the road sections.
"Although he lost some time, the most important thing is that he is still in the rally in a points-scoring position. We're less than one minute off third place, so we're confident Petter will be able to get back on the attack on leg two tomorrow," Taylor summed-up.
