Portugal : Subaru World Rally Team – Leg 1Rally Portugal is proving to be a demanding event, but after the opening day of action the Subaru World Rally Team has two cars firmly in the points-scoring positions.
Petter Solberg/Phil Mills ended the day in fourth position,
but are well-placed to launch a podium bid tomorrow. The pace at the front was electrifying, but Petter and Phil ended the day just half a minute off the lead. Chris Atkinson/Glenn Macneall experienced mixed fortunes, but battled up to hold eighth position overnight.
Two loops of three special stages await the crews on tomorrow's leg. The tests are all situated to the north west of the rally's base, the Algarve Stadium, near Loule. In general, tomorrow's stages feature a harder, rockier base than leg one's roads. That could place tough demands on the rubber and make tyre choice even more critical for the teams. A total leg distance of 412.78km is split into 152.92km of competitive stages and 259.86km of liason.
Richard Taylor, Managing Director
"Overall it's gone pretty well for us today. It was unfortunate that Petter dropped a bit of time on the sixth stage with a spin, but otherwise he has put in an excellent performance and has been right in the thick of the battle for the lead.
There's still a long way to go, and we expect that conditions tomorrow will prove similarly hard on the car and tyres, but we there's every reason to think that Petter is on course for a podium finish. Chris has had a tough day and it's proved difficult for him to get into a comfortable rhythm. We'll make a couple of changes to the car tonight and see if we can improve the feel of it for him for tomorrow."
Petter Solberg
"Today has gone really well. The car is quick, easy to drive and a lot of fun, but there is still work to do before we see its full potential. Today we have seen that we need to improve the tyre wear a little, like many others. That's what caught us out a little bit today.
Generally though I'm very happy with the way the car drives, and after analysing the data tonight hopefully the engineers will be able to find something to preserve the tyres for the next two days. Tomorrow I'll try to fight back. Of course a podium finish is possible, that's what I'm aiming for. Maybe it's possible to get higher up the podium than third place, we'll just have to see."
Chris Atkinson
"It's not been as good a day as we'd hoped for. The balance of the car just hasn't felt right and I haven't been able to find the same pace I had a few weeks' ago in Mexico. But we're still in the points, there is a long way to go and we have some ideas for tomorrow that might improve things. We'll keep focussed, keep trying hard and hopefully we'll have a better day tomorrow."
Subaru World Rally Team
