The afternoon loop today was really good, and I’m quite happy with the performance this weekend. We knew it would be much tougher than Cyprus, but still I reckon we have done well. Both Citroen and Ford came to Portugal with improved motor and chassis, still we are fighting with them. We also got more damper-experience and this is good for Argentina.

We are fourth, and that is not so bad, the three in front are manufacturer-teams, and we are the best privateer. Also, we are three Norwegians in the top six.

Petter ended fourth in Rally Portugal, and secured 5 points in Drivers Championship. Sebastien Loeb won the event, and Mikko Hirvonen ended second. Dani Sordo ended third, and Henning climbed up to fifth overall. Mads Østbergs rounds up the great Norwegian result with his 6th. Marcus Grønholm had an accident on Saturday and was forced to retire. Jari Matti Latvala rolled off the road on Friday, end retired.

Petter was next on the road after Marcus’ accident, and got caught in a lot of dust when passing him. The organiser adjusted his time with 11,7 seconds as a result of that. Dust has been a big issue this weekend, especially on Sunday. Earlier there was a little breeze blowing the dust away before the next car came through, but on Sunday there was no wind. As a result the organiser decided to run the cars with a 3 minutes gap between.

Quote Team Manager Ken Rees
“We came to Portugal, and it’s only our third event. It’s a different event than both Norway and Cyprus as it was faster and more crests and Petter had to learn without any testing. The event went well for us with a 100% reliability of the car and Petter driving both quickly and neatly. We achieved what we came for, which was a good result and points.

At many stages we have had various minor technical problems with the car which cost us some time and possibly a place on the podium. At the end we achieved fourth overall, moving us a place up in the World Championship and this for a small private team is a great achievement.

Looking ahead to Argentina, we are looking forward to this event as this is one that Petter likes. He has previously been competitive there, although then he was in full factory supported car. The conditions in Argentina can change rapidly from hard, dusty surface to very muddy, slippy conditions as the storms can come quickly and change the roads considerably.

As a team we look forward to going and continue our assault on the world championship and come away with more valuable points.”

Next event is Rally Argentina, 23. - 26. April. Petter are flying in to Cordoba the weekend before, and will use the next two weeks to relax and get well from the two viruses he’s got.

Overall Classification Rally Portugal 2009
1. S Loeb/D Elena (FRA)                         Citroën C4                 3h53m13.1s
2. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen(FIN)                   Ford Focus RS          +24.3s
3. D Sordo/M Marti (ESP)                        Citroën C4                 +1m45.4s
4. P Solberg/P Mills (NOR)                       Citroën Xsara            +2m44.6s
5. H Solberg/C Menkerud (NOR)                Ford Focus RS          +5m46.3s
6. Mads Ostberg/O Unnerud (NOR)           Subaru Impreza         +6m20.8s
7. F Villagra/J Diaz (ARG)                        Ford Focus RS          +12m59.5s
8. K Al Qassimi/M Orr (UAE)                    Ford Focus RS          +18m21.7s
9. A Araujo/M Ramalho (POR)                  Mitsubishi Lancer       +22m18.5s
10. M Prokop/J Tomanek (CZ)                  Mitsubishi Lancer       +23m25.6s
 

FIA WRC manufacturer standings
1. Citroen Total WRT - 64                       2. BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT - 40               3. Stobart VK M-Sport Ford - 27
4. Citroen Junior Rally Team – 11            5. Munchi’s Ford WRT - 7

FIA WRC driver standings
1. S Loeb - 40                2. M Hirvonen - 30         3. D Sordo - 23              4=. H Solberg -14         
4=. P Solberg - 14          6. M Wilson - 8              7. J-M Latvala - 6           8=. C Atkinson - 4   8=. F Villagra 4