Petter Solberg and Phil Mills drove in to a third place overall today here on Rally Jordan. " It feels good to be on the podium again, and I’m very pleased for both my team and my sponsors", Petter Solberg said after the finish podium.

"The rally went well, except for that two stages yesterday, were I really struggled to find the grip. I had the perfect car, and I’m very happy to be able to be up there and fight for fastest times".

The event started with a good introduction to the heat and sand of Jordan "0.7 seconds behind Loeb on that last stage was the perfect ending on the first day here in Jordan", says Petter Solberg. – But I must admit it was very tight, but good team-work secured a good starting position for the next day. I’m very happy with everything so far, and we just had to “play the game” at the end of day. Road position is so important for a good result. We will see during the day tomorrow what our next step will be.

After 7 of 21 stages in Jordan, Petter is 4th. Jari-Matti Latvala is the overnight leader of the rally, and will also be first on the road tomorrow. Petter and Phil were fastest on two of todays seven stages and could have been in the lead if they hadn’t decided to just go for a target time on the final stage and secure a good start position.

"It’s been really good on 4 of todays stages, and I have exactly the starting position I wanted for the final day", Petter says.  "I must admit I didn’t plan to be more than 40 seconds behind the leader, but it is a long day tomorrow and a lot can happen".

6 stages have been contested today, 3 stages done twice. Petter and Phil set the fastest time on two of the stages, and were second fastest on SS8 and SS11. But on the longest stage of the day, The Jordan River, they lost some time. – I struggled with the grip on that stage, on both runs. There is nothing wrong with the car, just didn’t have any grip.

Tomorrow is the final day here in Jordan, but with more than 100kms to contest (8 stages) on the final day, it will certainly be an exciting day. First car is on the road from 0820 (local time).

With team tactics in full flow taking the lead car position on the last day was to be key to the outcome of hte rally, as it was Ogier took this place to help the cause of his Citroen star Loeb. While this helped Loeb to the outright victory it also helped Solberg to overhaul the Frenchman in to the last podium position. With Jari-Matti Latvala in second place.

With his third, Petter secured more points in the championship, and is now 4th overall with 35 points.

Next event is Rally Turkey, 16 – 18 April.

Final Leaderboard

1. S Loeb/D Elena                       FRA              Citroen C4              3h51min35.9sec
2. J-M Latvala/M Anttila               FIN                Ford Focus RS         +35.8sec
3. P Solberg/P Mills                    NOR              Citroen C4              +1m11.8sec
4. D Sordo/M Marti                     ESP               Citroen C4              +1m49.3sec
5. M Wilson/S Martin                  GBR              Ford Focus RS         +8m24.3sec
6. S Ogier/J Ingrassa                  FRA               Citroen C4              +10m26.4sec
7. F Villagra/Pérez Companc      ARG               Ford Focus RS      +11m.28.0sec
8. K Raikkönen/K Lindstrom         FIN               Citroen C4              +12m.31.0sec   
9. H Solberg/I Minor                   NOR               Ford Focus RS         +14m08.6sec
10. X Pons/A Haro                      SPA              Ford Fiesta S2000   +18m.33.9sec