The Subaru World Rally Team finished Rally de France (Tour de Corse) with two of its cars in the top-six, and all three inside the top-10. Based on the French island of Corsica, round 13 of the World Rally Championship was the second asphalt event in as many weeks and featured some of the most challenging roads in the FIA series.
Petter Solberg started Friday’s first leg with several top-five stage times but struggled for grip on the twisty roads. His pace improved as the event went on, and he ran as high as third fastest through the stages, but was unable to match the outright speed of the leaders and brought his car to the finish podium in fifth place overall.
Despite a relative lack of experience of the uniquely challenging conditions, Chris Atkinson started well, and held sixth overall after the morning’s two stages. Atkinson experimented with different car set-ups throughout the event, and made some progress with the balance and performance of his Impreza WRC2007. Although unable to improve on his sixth place Chris drove faultlessly and gained valuable experience of the Corsican mountain roads.
Xevi Pons progress was badly affected by several punctures he picked up during the event. On course for a respectable eighth place overall, Pons had to stop and change a wheel on the morning of the final day which cost him the place and put him over one and a half minutes adrift – a gap which proved too much to close.
Petter Solberg (5th)
“I thought the car felt better this weekend and easier to drive which is a good step forward for us. The speed is still not quite there and we are struggling on the very flat surfaces. Unfortunately for us the stages on leg three were mostly flat so weren’t able to catch Jari-Matti Latvala, although it was a good battle to the final stage. Overall the weekend has been good for the team and I am feeling more confident with the car which is important going into Japan next. ”
Chris Atkinson (6th)
“This weekend was not quite what we had expected and the result is not as good as we wanted, but we have collected some good points again and as a team have learnt a lot ahead of Japan. We saw yesterday that the car is capable of good pace with third fastest on SS9, but there is still speed to come. A big area for us to work on is my confidence in the car on the smooth asphalt. The surface here over the three legs has been so varied, between bumpy and smooth, that it has been hard to develop a good rhythm. ”
Xevi Pons (8th)
“Looking at leg three it was not good for us, but for this weekend as a whole I am happy. The car has had no problems, which is important, and we have been able to concentrate on developing my style rather than making changes to the car which has helped me a great deal. Leg one was hard for us, and leg two was good. The morning stages on leg three were tough again, but the afternoon was much better. Xavier and I are developing our style with the car, and a championship point for us is very positive. ”
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