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 After the final day of competition of Rally Japan, the two remaining Subaru World Rally Team cars of Petter Solberg / Phil Mills and Xevi Pons / Xevi Amigo finished 17th and 36th respectively.
Over the final 97km, both crews put on a good show in front of Subaru’s home crowd, and made the best of the opportunity to test in conditions similar to those expected on next month’s Wales Rally GB.
Leg One
Leg one of Rally Japan proved disappointing for the Subaru World Rally Team after two of its three cars retired from the event. Petter Solberg’s day came to a premature end with a gear selection problem after SS5, while Chris Atkinson crashed off the road during SS6. Xevi Pons now leads the Subaru challenge, and will start tomorrow’s second leg in seventh place overall. The Spaniard ended the day in the best possible way, by setting the fastest time on the last stage – his first stage victory for Subaru.
Xevi has never competed on Rally Japan before, and gained a great deal of experience from his first day. Battling through the tough conditions, which included fog, ice and heavy rain, the Spanish pairing of Pons and co-driver Xavier Amigo recorded consistent top-ten stage times to secure seventh place. Reporting a lack of grip early on, changes made to the car throughout the day improved Xevi’s confidence on the slippery gravel, and he will start tomorrow feeling more comfortable with his Impreza WRC2007, and more familiar with the character of the Japanese stages.
Petter and co-driver Phil Mills were third fastest on SS4, but otherwise had a difficult start to the event reporting that they, like Xevi, were struggling with a lack of grip and balance. On the first stage after the midday service (SS5) Solberg was lucky to recover his car after it slid off the road and into a ditch. The car sustained some frontal damage, but Solberg pressed on and completed the stage. Sadly for Solberg a gear selection problem on the next road section left him with only sixth gear for SS6. With the twisty and steep nature of the day’s remaining roads, it was deemed not possible for him to continue and he retired from the leg. Solberg, who won Rally Japan in 2004, will restart the rally tomorrow.
Chris had an encouraging start, finishing third fastest on the opening stage, but reported a lack of confidence in the car through the remaining morning route. Pushing hard after making some changes at the midday service, he was fourth fastest on SS5, and was running fourth fastest in SS6 when his car slid wide on a medium speed section and collided with a tree. Both he and co-driver Stephane Prevot were unhurt in the crash, but the damage to the car was too extensive to enable a restart on Saturday.
Leg Two
 After a disappointing first leg of Rally Japan, when the Subaru team lost any realistic chance of a home rally win, Petter Solberg and co-driver Phil Mills were back on stage winning form on today’s second leg of competition. Solberg netted four outright stage wins in a drama-filled day, during which treacherous conditions led to plenty of incidents and the retirement of two of yesterday’s top-three drivers.
Having retired on leg one with a gear selection problem Petter and Phil restarted this morning with a fresh gearbox fitted to their Impreza WRC2007. Running first on the road, and contending with a lot of loose gravel and mud, they experienced grip difficulties early on but, feeling more comfortable towards the end of the morning loop, recorded a string of stage wins. Pushing hard to salvage some good stage times from a difficult two days, the duo were fastest on stages 14, 15, 16 and 18. The wins provided some consolation for the team and the thousands of Subaru and Solberg fans who lined the stages.
Xevi Pons started the day feeling more comfortable with his Impreza and was running seventh overall until the second stage of the day (SS12) when a broken front suspension component caused his car to slide off the road at a low speed corner. Xevi’s car became beached on some soft ground and despite his best efforts, and those of co-driver Xevi Amigo, he was unable to rejoin. Pons retired from the leg but will restart Sunday’s third and final day of competition.
Leg Three
 Petter showed determination to perform for his fans, and recorded three top-four stage times. Dropping to 65th place after his retirement on Friday’s leg, Solberg and co-driver Phil Mills pushed hard today and made further progress up the table, finishing 17th overall and claiming two manufacturer points for Subaru.
For Xevi, who was contesting his first ever Rally Japan, gaining experience on the tricky gravel surface was vital. The Spaniard made a good start, but had a spin early on into SS12 and lost his car’s rear wing while manoeuvring back onto the stage. This meant that he had to drive more cautiously for the remainder of the morning’s loop, especially in the high speed sections, until he was able to return to service. He then completed the afternoon’s loop with no problems to come home in 36th overall.
Quotes
Richard Taylor, Subaru World Rally Team managing director: “It has been a very difficult rally and the results have been disappointing for Subaru and our supporters. The five fastest stage times achieved by Petter and Xevi provide slight consolation, but we have not achieved our objectives here in Japan. The whole team must now push even harder to improve our performance for the last two events of the season.”
Car Number 7
Petter Solberg: “We did our best, but this is certainly not the result we came here for. Today I did all I could, but we’re still lacking the grip to go any faster. There’s not much more I can say really. We have a lot of work to do before Rally GB.”
Car Number 17
Xevi Pons: “Okay, this weekend was not easy. It was my first time here in Japan, and it’s a difficult rally, but we’ve had quite a lot of problems too. For today the car felt okay, but we have struggled with the handling balance for much of the weekend, sometimes understeer, sometimes oversteer. Today we’ve tested a bit for Rally GB, but the feeling isn’t quite there yet.”
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