The Subaru World Rally Team ended the first half of the World Rally Championship season with both cars in the points in Greece – including a well-earned podium for Petter Solberg and Phil Mills. For both crews, today’s objective was to consolidate their positions in the points. Although the final leg was both shorter and less demanding than the previous two days of rallying, there was no margin for error on the fast Greek tracks. With an advantage of more than a minute over the fourth-placed driver, Petter and Phil didn’t jeopardise their podium, while Chris Atkinson and Stephane Prevot made sixth place their own with a solid run throughout the day’s five timed tests.
Subaru World Rally Team managing director, Richard Taylor:
“It’s been a very positive weekend for the team and we’re delighted to see Petter on the podium and Chris in the top six. We achieved five fastest stage times, which is a clear measure of the 2007 Impreza’s true potential. We now have two months to refine the car and make sure that we’re able to consistently challenge for the top of the leaderboard throughout the second half of the season.”
Petter Solberg:
“It’s been a difficult rally but I’m very happy to finish on the podium. Sebastien had too much of a lead for us to catch him today, so instead we concentrated on keeping a steady pace, driving carefully and getting the championship points. There have been a lot of important guests from Subaru in Japan here in Greece and Mr Katsurada, the president of STI, is retiring this week so I’m especially pleased that we’ve been able to get a Subaru on the podium for him. It’s been a good weekend for the whole team actually and the car is getting better and better. We know we have more work to do before we can be satisfied, and over the summer break we’ll be working flat out to get things ready for the second half of the season.”
Chris Atkinson:
“We definitely made a positive start to this rally, and it was more than a good road position that enabled us to do those times. I’d say the car was working better than it had done on the last few rallies, so that was a good sign. But unfortunately we lost some of that performance later on in the day. Saturday just wasn’t our day and we suffered with some classic Acropolis problems like the punctures and damaged components. In the end we weren’t able to rediscover the performance or the feeling we had enjoyed on the first morning, and that’s the challenge for us over the next two months. We’re certainly getting closer, and I really hope we’ll be able to win more stages when we get to Finland.”
BFGoodrich tyre technician, Didier Martin:
“This has been a good rally for BFGoodrich and Subaru. We were very pleased to see the pace that Petter and Chris showed, especially on Friday when an excellent tyre choice helped them both to win stages. Overall the drivers have been very satisfied with the tyre choices they have made, as well as the choice of constructions and compounds that were nominated before the rally. We look forward to working in partnership with Subaru in the coming weeks to further improve the performance of the car ready for the second half of the season.”
