The Swedish Rally didn’t go so well for the Subaru World Rally Team. After Leg 1, Petter Solberg had established his place in the top 3 while Chris Atkinson was just outside the top 8. During Leg 2 however, Petter’s car got stuck in a snowy ditch. With the help of a group of 20 spectators, he managed to push the Impreza back on the road, undamaged, but he lost about 14 minutes. The Subaru team decided to retire Solberg to preserve the car’s engine and transmission for Rally Norway next week.
During Leg 3, Chris Atkinson set the fastest time on Special Stage 16, moving to 5th position overall. Sadly, he damaged the rear left corner of his Subaru WRC two stages later on SS18. Because of the damage to his car, he took a drop from 5th position to 8th overall.
Chris Atkinson:
“The mistake on SS18 was disappointing, especially for the team, because we were on course to bring home three more championship points. But we’ve been encouraged by our pace here this weekend, we chose the right strategy of making a cautious start and what happened was just one those unfortunate things. Now it is important for us to look ahead to Rally Norway and try to get the best result we can there.”
Petter Solberg:
“I’m very disappointed about what has happened, and I’m really sorry to the supporters who were out on the stages for us. It was good to be fighting back near the top and I’d have liked to have carried that fight on tomorrow, but unfortunately losing 14 minutes meant there was no chance. So, we have to look forward, and that means preparing for Norway. It’s my home rally and I’m going to try my best to get a much better result.”