Norway : Subaru World Rally Team - PreviewThe Subaru World Rally Team heads to Sweden with the same brace of Impreza WRCs that started both the Rallye Monte Carlo and the Swedish Rally.
Petter Solberg/Phil Mills will drive car number seven, while Chris Atkinson/Glenn
Macneall will be in car number eight.
Although the new WRC rally represents a step into the unknown, both crews took part in the recce for last year's Rally Norway, which ran as a non-championship event. Petter won the Norwegian Rally Championship in 1998, but has never driven the Rally Norway stages competitively.
Petter Solberg
“It's going to be a very special event for me. Already things are building up ahead of the rally, there have been lots of press interviews in the last two days and people I know are arriving here for the event. I won't really have a home advantage because I have never seen these stages before. It is completely new for me, as it is for all the other drivers. It felt positive to lead in Sweden and we showed that especially when the stages are covered in lots of snow and ice we can set fastest stage times. So we need those conditions and have to hope there is not too much gravel showing through when we use the stages for the second time. It's going to be incredible to see all the fans supporting me and the team. It's difficult to say much about how I will feel about it until I get out on the stages, but I'm looking forward to it so much.”
Chris Atkinson
“I have some idea what to expect because we did the recce for Rally Norway last year, although many of the stages we drove have been reversed this time. I think it is going to be a pretty exciting rally, because the stages were great last year, although a lot more technical than those in Sweden.
There was a lot of snow and ice and some of the snow banks lining the stages were as much as two metres high, so it was like driving through a tunnel. We were quite happy with our pace in Sweden against some drivers who have a lot more experience of that event. In Norway everyone should be on the same level in terms of knowledge of the stages. Our approach to this rally will be the same as in Sweden: we'll start steadily and gradually build our pace. Hopefully we'll get the fifth or sixth place we should have had there.”
Richard Taylor, Subaru WRT MD
“As in Monte Carlo and Sweden, our objective for Rally Norway is to get both cars home in the points. Chris has driven very well to score points in the first two rallies of the season and we'd like to see him finish in the top six this weekend. For Petter the aim is to be in the top five at the end of his home event, although for him we'd like to think a podium finish is not out of the question if conditions are in our favour. Our experience in Sweden was that the car worked particularly well with the studded BFGoodrich tyres when there was a lot of snow and ice on the stages and the forecast for Norway is for more of those conditions. We were pleased with the pace of the Impreza WRC in Sweden and if we can turn that into consistent speed in Norway, it should put us in a good position.”
Source SWRT
