Sweden : Subaru World Rally Team - Leg 2
After a problematic Leg one for the Subaru World Rally Team, Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson`s main focus for today`s second Leg was testing and development work.
Experimenting with different car settings, Petter made an impressive start to the day and recorded top three times on the morning`s loop of three stages. He ended the Leg in 14th place after losing time with a gearshift problem and steering damage later in the day.

Atkinson too made the most of the opportunity to learn on the icy roads. He improved on his Leg one position of 26th overall and will begin tomorrow`s final leg in 13th place.

Petter Solberg
“Well, we`ve had a few good stages today. Our pace over the first four was okay and, until the gearbox problem in the afternoon, things were looking promising. Of course, after yesterday`s difficulties, we`ve concentrated a lot of our efforts on testing and learning for the future. So, in that respect we`ve had a useful day. Finding the metal pole in the snow bank on the last stage was unfortunate but it would have been much worse if we`d found it when we were fighting for a win. We`re keeping our spirits up and hope to learn more out on the stages tomorrow.”

Chris Atkinson
“For us it`s been a day of testing and learning things. We`ve been trying different tyres and set-ups to Petter and seeing the difference. Sometimes that has worked well, other times it`s not been so great, but that`s the way to learn.”

David Lapworth, SWRT Performance Director
“After the disappointments of yesterday, our objective today was to learn as much as possible about the car both for Mexico and for this event next year. We`ve actually learned a lot today and have been encouraged by some of Petter`s times in difficult circumstances. We plan to do more of the same tomorrow.”

The third and final Leg of the day will comprise six stages and 90.18 competitive kilometres run to the east and south of the Hagfors service park. Crews will leave parc fermé from 0650 before negotiating two loops of three stages including the shortest non-spectator stage of the event, Lesjofors, at 10.49km. The podium finish in Karlstad is scheduled for 1502.

Tags: rally,