Petter wins Karlstad SSS.

Subaru team leader Petter Solberg has taken the first stage win on the Uddeholm Swedish Rally following the short 1.90 kilometre Karlstad super special stage on Thursday night.

Petter completed the test, which took place in front of a packed crowd and in surprisingly mild conditions, in 1 minute 28.9 seconds, while Jari-Matti Latvala was 'best of the rest' for the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, 0.4 seconds slower in his Focus RS WRC car.

Petter Solberg (NOR), Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2007. Rallye Monte Carlo, 24-27th January 2008.
Petter Solberg (NOR), Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2007. Rallye Monte Carlo, 24…
© PHOTO 4

Subaru team leader Petter Solberg has taken the first stage win on the Uddeholm Swedish Rally following the short 1.90 kilometre Karlstad super special stage on Thursday night.

Petter completed the test, which took place in front of a packed crowd and in surprisingly mild conditions, in 1 minute 28.9 seconds, while Jari-Matti Latvala was 'best of the rest' for the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, 0.4 seconds slower in his Focus RS WRC car.

Mikko Hirvonen was next up in the sister Focus, while multiple world champion, Sebastien Loeb was fourth for Citroen with Stobart Ford's Henning Solberg fifth, 1.5 seconds down on his brother.

"The stage was good fun tonight, it would have been nice to have more snow or ice but the spectators were enjoying the action," said Henning. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow now as the stages are in reasonable condition and we have made a good recce.

"I will be trying right from the start, this is a good surface for me so it will be enjoyable. I like the stages here and it is nearly my home event; I know there will be lots of fans from Norway cheering me on."

Gigi Galli meanwhile was one spot lower in the other Stobart Ford car nominated to score manufacturers' points, equal sixth fastest with Suzuki's Per-Gunnar Andersson.

"It is good to be through the first stage now we can have a good sleep and focus on the real stages which start tomorrow," noted Gigi. "That was great to see all the people out supporting the WRC drivers tonight even though it was so cold outside. I'm looking forward to the stages tomorrow because we had a good feeling with the car this morning at shakedown."

Of the rest, Daniel Sordo set the eighth quickest time, although he ends SS1 right at the back of the pack having started with a 5 minute penalty after Citroen had to change the engine on his C4 WRC.

"When we got back to the factory [after round 1], inspection of the Monte engine revealed that it had suffered more than we had initially thought following the turbo problem that occurred on the third day," Citroen boss, Olivier Quesnel told the team's official website prior to the start.

"Given that the engine which competes in Sweden will go on to contest the Rally Mexico, too, we deemed it preferable to change engines in order to make sure that Dani and Marc [Marti - his co-driver] were given the best chance possible."

Toni Gardemeister and Mads Ostberg completed the top ten, although both finished the loop one spot higher in the overall classification as a result of Sordo's engine change.

In the Production Car WRC category Uwe Nittel takes the early lead, with Martin Prokop and Armindo Araujo second and third respectively, both less than a second further back.

The action now gets underway 'proper' on Friday, with SS2, the 15.50 kilometre-run through Stensjon starting at 09.34 hours local time.

More to follow then...

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