Germany - Subaru World Rally Team - Leg 1Today's route took crews north east of Trier into the Mosel vineyard region. Leg one consisted of six special stages, totalling 128.6 competitive kilometres. While many of the stages are unchanged from previous years, some sections
have been re-surfaced, making grip levels unpredictable.
The day started with dry roads and a clear sky, but it became overcast by late morning and at 1300hrs there were heavy rain showers in Trier and on the stages. The roads were drying by the time SS4 was run and the two following stages were mostly dry. The temperature ranged between 13 and 23 degrees celsius.
Today's first leg of Rally Germany was a mixed affair for the Subaru World Rally Team. The crews of Solberg/Mills and Atkinson/Prevot both produced some excellent performances on the tricky vineyard roads around Trier, but despite stage-winning speed and perfect mechanical reliability, small driving mistakes dropped them both out of the battle for the podium places. On their first asphalt rally with the team, the Impreza WRC2007 of Pons/Amigo lies in seventh place overall.
Tomorrow's leg is the longest of the rally and includes the roads of the Baumholder military ranges. With four individual stages, each run twice, the competitors will cover 164.86 competitive kilometres of the rough and unforgiving route, the dirty asphalt making grip tricky to judge.
With trees and huge concrete blocks lining the route, concentration and confidence need to be at their peak.
Richard Taylor, Managing Director
"It's been a day of mixed fortunes for our team. We're really pleased with the pace of all three cars on the asphalt, but the positions we hold at the end of the day don't truly reflect the performance and potential we've shown. Both Chris and Petter would have been comfortably in the top five, but they both paid heavily for small mistakes. After he went off on the second stage, Chris has done a great job this afternoon, running very strongly at the front of the field, and the fastest time on the last stage was well deserved. Petter's day started extremely well, but the steering damage caused by the rock on SS4 dropped him to the lower end of the top-ten. Apart from a couple of spins and a faulty handbrake, Xevi has had a good day. Overall we can be pleased with the pace that we've shown. It's encouraging for the rest of the weekend."
Petter Solberg
"Our pace this morning was very good and the car was handling well. It is very good on asphalt; a completely different car. Unfortunately I came into a hairpin during SS5 and hit a rock with the inside wheel which damaged the steering. There was nothing we could do to fix it until we returned to service and it was very difficult to drive, so that meant we lost time in the last two stages which are the longest of the day."
Chris Atkinson
"The car felt good today. I'm building my confidence back up; at the start of the day I didn't feel 100 per cent right, but by the end it's a great feeling to finish the final stage fastest. We've had awesome pace today and for that reason being fastest doesn't come as a big surprise, it's just a shame that I made a mistake, and I'm sorry for the whole team. I really think we could have been fighting for a podium here. It's very encouraging for us and shows how quick we can be on asphalt."
Xevi Pons
"Today was overall a good day as there were times when we really showed our pace. It was difficult day as it was my first competitive outing on asphalt with the team, and the stages here are tricky. We've had a little understeer which made building confidence tricky, but it is great to have recorded the fastest second split time on SS4, and I feel encouraged for tomorrow."
Source Subaru World Rally Team
