After a disappointing first Leg on the Acropolis Rally of Greece, Petter Solberg holds fourteenth position overall with two more days of competition remaining.
Petter`s chances of a good result were dealt a blow on the second stage of the rally, when his car slid off the road and into a ditch. Later on, a broken driveshaft severely limited his potential for recovery.
Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Sarrazin achieved their primary objectives of learning more about their cars and the event. Both are hoping to re-start the rally tomorrow under Superally regulations after separate incidents caused them to retire on the penultimate stage today.
Petter Solberg
"We`ve had such bad luck today and so many things have gone against us. Everything that we`d planned went completely wrong and I`m very disappointed. Damaging the driveshaft at such a critical part of the day, with three stages ahead, left me no opportunity to fight. It`s very hard to accept, but that`s just how it is. For now, I have to pick myself up, concentrate on the best possible finish and try my hardest tomorrow. This rally has shown that anything can happen, so we`ll just have to see."
Chris Atkinson
"My aim for this event was to get to the finish and because of that the strategy for today was to take a conservative approach, without too many risks, in order that we could learn more for later on. Things were going to plan, but we made some changes to the car at the mid-point service, which I think in hindsight made the car a bit too soft. We were able to drive around the problem though, but at the end of SS6 we encountered an engine problem and the team felt it was unwise to continue without a thorough investigation."
Stéphane Sarrazin
"Overall the car felt really good today. Had it not been for our punctures our times were good and I`m very pleased. I like the settings of the car and felt very comfortable. I am optimistic for tomorrow once we`ve completed the usual service this evening."
David Lapworth, Team Principal
"Petter has had a dramatic day and he`s driven the complete rally suffering consequences of a couple of incidents. The time lost means it`s been difficult to achieve the results we were looking for, but there`s still a good chance of scoring a few points. I`m sure he`ll give it his best shot tomorrow. It seems that Stéphane and Chris have had more than their fair share of trouble today. Chris started cautiously as planned, has set some encouraging times and has gained some of the valuable experience that he came here for. Stéphane too was doing well but was very unfortunate with his punctures. With both incidents on the same stage it seemed only sensible to retire and ensure minimum damage to the cars."
Leg two starts from Lamia at 0830hrs. Featuring eight stages and 250 stage kilometres, Saturday`s Leg is the longest of the rally and takes crews back into the mountains to the south of Lamia.


Tags: acropolis, greece, subaru, solberg, atkinson, sarrazin, team,