At the end of the first Leg of competition on Rally Deutschland, Petter Solberg leads the Subaru challenge and holds fourth position overall. Solberg enjoyed a trouble-free run in his Impreza WRC2005, but despite his best efforts was unable to match the pace of Citroen`s tarmac experts who dominated the day`s action.
Subaru`s second points nominated driver, Stephane Sarrazin, set a string of top-10 stage times although his overall position was affected by a handbrake problem in the morning and a spin later in the day. On his first ever asphalt rally, Subaru`s youngest driver, Chris Atkinson, controlled his pace carefully to gain experience of the specialist conditions.
Petter Solberg
“There have been no major problems today and I`ve had a good, smooth drive. The car has been good and I think we made the right tyre choices. We`re not planning on making many big changes for tomorrow as the balance feels about right. It`s a little frustrating that we cannot be further ahead, but I`m really trying.”
Stephane Sarrazin
“I was very happy with my speed today but we then had the problem with the handbrake and then this afternoon lost a lot of time when I got stuck on a bank. I wasn`t really going too fast, but there was a lot of dirt and gravel on the road then I made a small mistake, spinning and ending up stuck. Thanks to the spectators I got back on and there was no problem with the car so I could continue. The tyres were good today and I`m happy with my choices. The pace was good and I think I have a good car so am looking forward to being back tomorrow.”
Chris Atkinson
“Today we did what we had to do. It`s my first tarmac rally and after so few kilometres in the car on this surface, I didn`t know what to expect. We ran at a safe pace to get the experience of the rally and while I know I could run quicker, I don`t think we need to go out and do that on our first event!”
David Lapworth, Team Principal
“It`s frustrating that Petter is happy with the car and its balance, and has had a clean run and yet we are fighting for fourth rather than the lead. At the moment we do not have an answer for the pace of the Citroens so we`re going to be pushing to ensure Petter wins the battle with Markko`s Peugeot and Toni in the Ford. Stephane has had a bittersweet day having done some encouraging stage and split times, but then losing time with a handbrake problem on SS3 and a small off later in the day. At least we can look forward to some better times running at the head of the field tomorrow. Chris has certainly learnt a lot during his first-ever day of asphalt rallying and realistically his pace today is what we would have expected. It will be interesting to watch him improve throughout the weekend.”
Cars leave Trier Parc Fermé from 0700hrs, and head directly to Bostalsee for a 10-minute service. Leg two features seven more stages and 145.94 competitive kilometres on a mixture of public roads and military ranges, including the formidable Baumholder Panzerplatte section. The Superspecial also takes place on Saturday, in the town of St. Wendel.


Tags: subaru, deutschland, peter, solberg, chris, atkinson, impreza,