Conditions on the first leg of Ireland’s inaugural WRC event were treacherous, with the asphalt routes covered in mud. Conditions got worse for those running further down the order as the roads became ever-more slippery, aided by the afternoon rain. The narrow roads, lined by ditches, stone walls and banks allowed no margin for error, and the tricky conditions caught many drivers out.

Petter and Phil completed the opening Superspecial stage in Belfast fifth overall, winning their head-to-head pairing with Hirvonen (Ford). Experiencing some engine trouble in the morning’s loop of stages, which was traced to a faulty sensor and rectified during the first service, Petter had a trouble-free afternoon to finish the day fifth overall.

Chris was the leading SWRT driver after Thursday’s Superspecial, finishing the 1.82km sprint fourth overall having also won his pairing. Lying sixth by the second stage of the morning, he was running well until he slid off the road in a fast right-hander 15km into stage four. Managing to return to the service park, the team repaired the front end of the car to enable Chris to continue leg one, but the incident cost him over 20 minutes.

Xevi completed the team’s clean sweep at the Superspecial, winning his own head-to-head. Restarting Friday morning eleventh on the road, he had to tackle even more mud in the stages, on surfaces he had no experience of. He was just outside the top ten after the second stage of the day, until he slid off the road 5km into stage four, resulting in engine damage that forced his retirement from the rally. He will not restart leg two tomorrow.

After a solid and consistent performance on today’s second leg of Rally Ireland, the Subaru World Rally Team pairing of Petter Solberg and Phil Mills consolidated their fifth place overall and narrowed the gap to fourth. The team’s other crew of Chris Atkinson and Stephane Prevot were fastest on stage 14 and set a string of top five stage times.

Today’s six stages were just as treacherous, if not more so, than those of leg one. Heavy rain mid-morning cleaned the narrow routes but made the surface even greasier. The rain stopped before the afternoon loop, but drivers were still faced with standing water in the final three stages.

Petter started the day on heavily cut slicks, and despite the rain and driving to a pace with which he felt comfortable he steadily closed on fourth-placed Hirvonen (Ford). He posted the third fastest stage time on SS12 and SS15 and was second quickest on the day’s final stage. The gap to Hirvonen was 30.3 seconds at the end of leg one, but by the end of the second day this had been halved.

Having slipped down the overall standings after an accident on leg one, Chris was the 17th car through the stages today, and had to contend with dirtier roads than those at the head of the field. With his chances of a strong finish wiped out on leg one, Chris’s focus was on testing and data acquisition – although he still managed to finish in the top five on four of the day’s stages. His outright stage win on SS14 demonstrated the pace of which he is capable on these unpredictable surfaces.

Petter headed into the final four stages focused on continuing to drive to a pace with which he was comfortable. Experiencing a punctured right rear tyre, which was totally flat by the third split of the day’s opener (SS17), Petter otherwise had a trouble-free day. He ended the rally on a high by winning the final stage while fifth place meant four points in the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships.

The Impreza WRC2007 of Chris Atkinson was withdrawn at the morning’s ten minute service. During the last service of leg two the team discovered an internal engine problem, and after analysing the data overnight and inspecting the engine again today, the decision was made to retire as there was almost no possibility of the car reaching the end of the rally. According to Superally regulations the Australian still managed to collect two manufacturers’ championship points.

Quotes
Subaru World Rally Team Managing Director, Richard Taylor: “Our results here have been disappointing however we have made some positive steps with chassis development for the future. Petter and Chris have scored manufacturers’ championship points keeping up a close competition for third overall as we head to Wales Rally GB.”

Car Number 7
Petter Solberg: “It’s been the most difficult rally I have ever done I think, but it’s been quite enjoyable. It’s been very special for Phil and me as you have to really work properly together as a team to get through this rally, and we have finished with no mistakes at all. The car is working better and we have had some good stage times, so it has been quite a good event for us. The result is not what we hoped, but we will now really, really work hard for Wales Rally GB.”