Petter Solberg endured another tough time on today`s second Leg of the Acropolis Rally of Greece. Starting this morning from 14th place overall, after problems on yesterday`s first Leg, his opportunities to fight back were badly affected by a poor starting position.
Despite running as the second car through the sandy and slippery stages, Solberg made up five places during the day and holds ninth place overnight.
Re-starting the rally today under the Superally system, Stéphane Sarrazin enjoyed a trouble-free Leg in his Impreza WRC2005. On only the second gravel rally of his career, the Frenchman grew in confidence throughout the day and traded stage times with other far more experienced WRC drivers.
Petter Solberg
"It`s been a very difficult day. Running so close to the head of the field meant we had the worst possible road surface, and we simply couldn`t go any faster. There was a lot of fine, sandy gravel out there and it was very, very slippery. I did my best, and the car has been perfectly reliable, but it was never going to be enough to make up for the road position. It`s frustrating to be so uncompetitive on stages that I won last year - but I suppose not entirely unexpected in the circumstances. We made a few adjustments to the car set-up at the mid-point service, but somehow the package didn`t come together properly. For tomorrow we`ll keep fighting, keep doing our best, and aim to take away as many points as possible."
Stéphane Sarrazin
"I`m finding this rally is a lot harder than Sardinia, but I`m enjoying the challenge. I felt a lot more confident on the second pass through the stages this afternoon, we took a different tyre and of course had the benefit of experience at that point, but it felt much better. There are still plenty of areas in which I can improve - my pace notes for instance are still too cautious - but I`m happy with the progress. It`s good to be exchanging times with some of the more experienced gravel drivers. The car has run perfectly, we`ve had no problems at all, and I`m looking forward to the final four new stages tomorrow."
David Lapworth, Team Principal
"Even though he`s driven well today, and has had a totally reliable car, Petter hasn`t been rewarded with the result he deserves. Taking into consideration his placement on the road, and the fact that he`s been effectively cleaning the roads for the drivers behind, it`s been very hard for him to make up the time deficit. Stéphane has proved that he learns very quickly. After just four days of gravel rally experience he already understands a lot about the car and tyre set-up options. He`s developed a very good relationship with his engineers and I think we can look forward to more positive steps from him tomorrow."
The final Leg of the Acropolis Rally of Greece starts tomorrow at 0700hrs. Featuring four more stages and 98 stage kilometres, Sunday`s Leg is the shortest of the rally and takes crews into the mountains west of Lamia. The winning car is expected to cross the finish ramp back in Lamia at 1425hrs.


Tags: subaru, greece, peter, solberg, impreza,