Team Features

Petter: "Things are looking good for next year"

08 December 2006

Just one week after the end of the 2006 World Rally Championship, Subaru World Rally Team driver Petter Solberg is already focusing on the challenges of next season.

Speaking in the press conference after Rally GB, Subaru’s Norwegian ace said he was happy to end the season with a podium finish in the Impreza WRC2006, but added that now he wanted to get back on the winning trail in 2007.

“It was good to get some champagne again,” said Petter. “I was happy with third place in Wales, we had some ups and downs, but we tried hard to have a good end to the season. I was on good form and the small improvements we made to the car before the rally worked well, so if we hadn’t had a few problems I think I could have given Marcus [Gronholm] a hard time.”

“I’ve learned a lot this season. Okay, sometimes I get mad, but I’m still happy to drive. Sitting behind the steering wheel is what I have dreamed about doing for my whole life, and I still enjoy it. But I want to win, that’s the main thing.

“We’ve been through a tough year, but it is over now. We have to try to fight for victories again and I think we can do that next year. We are going in the right direction and things are looking good. The guys are working flat-out to get the car ready for next year and we are staying positive.

Next season the Subaru World Rally Team will switch tyre supplier from Pirelli to BFGoodrich, and Petter thanked Pirelli for all its hard work during a long and fruitful relationship: “Pirelli have done a very good job. We have won many world championships and lots of rallies with them. Next season everybody will be on the same BFGoodrich tyres, so it will be a level playing field for all the teams. Then we will see, maybe Pirelli will come back in 2008.”

Petter and team-mate Chris Atkinson will next be in action when the Subaru World Rally Team begins its Rallye Monte Carlo testing programme later this month.