Sardinia : OMV Peugeot Norway - Leg 1The beginning of the Rally Italia Sardegna was everything the OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team and Henning Solberg could have hoped for. The Norwegian had a spectacular battle with his brother Petter (World Champion 2003), finally
overtaking him on special stage five. The OMV driver lies in outstanding fourth overall place after day one.
Manfred Stohl on the other hand had to deal with slight teething troubles. The 33-year-old Austrian lost a lot of time on the first three SS. In the afternoon he was able to climb up two places but was thrown back once again to twelfth place due to tyre damage.
Peugeot 307 WRC runs smoothly
Henning Solberg was able to confirm his great performance during the shakedown (fourth-best time) on the first day of the Rally Italia Sardegna. The Norwegian OMV driver fought with the best right from the beginning. His main focus was on brother Petter in the works Subaru.
Following second-best time on SS 3 and a further top result on SS 4 the OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team was able to overtake Petter on SS 5. This means an excellent fourth overall place after day one. Henning Solberg: “The Peugeot runs perfectly smooth. We are really feeling great. In the morning we had a moment of shock when we drifted off the road on SS 2. But apart from that we can drive at very high speed and it is generally a lot of fun. On Saturday we'll try our best to jump onto the podium.
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Bad luck on the last special stage
The seventh WRC event this season wasn't off to a perfect start for Manfred Stohl. The OMV driver realised already during the first special stage that the wheels jammed while braking. Traction was lacking, as well. This caused Stohl/Minor to lose over 1:30 minutes during the first three special stages alone. During the service the shocks were exchanged and the differentials re-programmed. Improvement was immediately evident and the Austrian OMV Team gained place by place. Stohl climbed up from 12th to 10th overall place – until the last special stage of the day.
Following a tyre damage in the middle of the stage (Stohl hit a rock) the mousse stopped working and the OMV driver lost 1:50 minutes. Stohl: “The feeling was quite all right in the morning. Unfortunately the times were not. In the afternoon we did better – until the mishap with the tyre occurred on the last special stage. If the mousse doesn't work you simply lose too much time. But this rally is so tough on the material that almost every team encounters a flat at one time or another. Even the best of tyres can't prevent that.“
Press release OMV Peugeot Norway
