The third and final leg brought mixed fortunes for the Subaru World Rally Team, but the team ended with two cars in the top six. After a close battle with Ford’s Jari-Matti Latvala, Petter finished fifth, while Chris and Xevi finished sixth and eighth respectively.

At the start of the day Solberg took advantage of his Impreza’s pace on rough asphalt to close the gap to fourth-placed Jari-Matti Latvala, and the pair remained locked in a close battle for the rest of the day. On fast-changing stages that incorporated narrow twisty sections and long and winding corners, the duo of Solberg and Phil Mills showed improved pace as the day went on - recording the third fastest time on SS15.

Feeling confident at the end of leg two, Xevi Pons did not have a good start to the day, suffering a puncture on each of the first two stages. Near the start of SS13 he was forced to stop and change a wheel, an incident which cost him more than three minutes and dropped him a place to eighth overall. Another puncture on SS14, and no spare wheel, meant he had to continue on the broken rubber, running on the wheel rim until the end of the stage. This left him over one and a half minutes off eighth by the midday service, and despite a good afternoon the gap was too large for Xevi to close.

Chris Atkinson had a problem-free day to retain his sixth place overall and gain more valuable experience of the unique Corsican roads. The time differences being as large as they were after leg two, Chris concentrated on bringing the car back safely in the afternoon to ensure his second haul of points in two weekends.

SUBARU WORLD RALLY TEAM MANAGING DIRECTOR, RICHARD TAYLOR: “The team are pleased to finish with all three cars in points-scoring positions here in Corsica. Chris and Petter were able to achieve a top-three stage time each, however we clearly have more work to do to fully exploit the potential of our 2007 car and get back to achieving regular podium results.”

Petter Solberg: “I thought the car felt better today 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 today were mostly flat so weren’t able to catch Jari-Matti Latvala, although it was a good battle to the final stage. Overall this 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: “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: “Looking at today 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 yesterday was good. This morning was tough again, but this afternoon was much better. Xavier and I are developing our style with the car, and a championship point for us is very positive.”

BFGoodrich
Didier Martin, BFGoodrich tyre technician: “It was a good fight between Petter and Francois Duval on the first two days, and it is good to see that the Subaru Impreza WRC2007 and BFGoodrich are capable of fighting. Maybe a set of harder compound tyres this morning would have been better as the high temperatures were tough on the tyres on the two long stages, but it is good to see positive progress.”

Leg One
At the end of the first day of competition in Corsica, the Subaru World Rally Team Imprezas of Petter Solberg, Chris Atkinson and Xevi Pons hold fifth, seventh and eighth places respectively.

Solberg recorded several top-five stage times today, despite struggling with grip on the twisty Corsican roads of the morning loop. By the midday service, he was only 0.8s behind asphalt expert Francois Duval after recording the fourth fastest stage time on SS3. A great battle between the two ensued and, more comfortable with his car in the afternoon loop, the Norwegian closed the gap to Duval to only 0.2s by the end of SS4. Although a stall on the start line of SS5 prevented Solberg from achieving his target today, he will start leg two only 5.3s adrift of fourth place.

Atkinson started the day well, and held sixth overall after the morning’s two stages. While he felt happy with the balance of his car, he was unable to push as hard as he wanted on the smooth surface. Starting SS4 1.8s behind team-mate Solberg, Chris felt less comfortable following a set-up change in service and slipped to seventh place. Reporting a lack of confidence on the smooth sections, changes will be made to Atkinson’s car before the start of leg two which should improve the situation for the longest leg of the event.

Xevi Pons finished the morning eighth overall but, like many drivers, reported grip difficulties on the unique Corsican asphalt. He completed his day nearly 50 seconds ahead of Jan Kopecky in ninth, but made some changes to the handling of his Impreza during the final service, with the aim of boosting his confidence throughout tomorrow’s six stages.

Leg Two
The three Impreza WRC2007s of the Subaru World Rally Team remain within the top seven in the overall standings after today’s six stages. Petter was fifth after a hard-fought battle with Jari Matti Latvala, and Chris and Xevi came home sixth and seventh.

Petter started leg two 3.3 seconds ahead of Latvala, extending this after a good run on the day’s opener. Stage eight brought the whole field grip challenges over the long and twisty route, and Petter, feeling uncomfortable for the last 10km, ended the stage slipping just behind Latvala. The gap came down to just 1.3s between the two before some difficulties in the latter half of SS10 meant he slipped off the pace of the Finn. Having made some changes before SS11, Petter felt more confident in the car on the second pass of this section, setting the fifth fastest time. He continued this good form to set the third fastest time on the final stage of the day, but adjustments were made in final service to try find that little bit extra for the final leg.

Chris Atkinson used the morning’s first stage to develop his confidence in the car after not feeling comfortable yesterday. He had a fantastic stage nine, the last of the morning loop, recording the third fastest time just behind Marcus Gronholm and Sebastien Loeb. The surface being looser on this stage, Chris felt far more comfortable with the handling and balance of his Impreza – something which he carried into the afternoon loop with a string of top six stage times to secure his solid points-scoring position going into the third and final leg tomorrow.

Xevi Pons had a great start to leg two on the tricky SS7 this morning, finishing the opening stage sixth fastest. He was more confident on the tight and twisty routes of leg two that are more typical of Corsica than those experienced yesterday, and felt happier with his performance and the balance of his car. Despite clipping a stone with his front tyre and suffering a puncture on SS8 which lead to a vibration from the front of the car, the Spaniard pushed on to increase the gap to Jan Kopecky steadily throughout the day. Happy with his day, he will use tomorrow to consolidate his overall points-paying position.