Continuing his remarkable recovery after losing five minutes 40 seconds at the end of Leg one, Petter Solberg delivered another commanding performance in his new Subaru Impreza WRC2004 yesterday to make up another place on the leaderboard and finish the rally fourth overall.
The Norwegian won nine of the fifteen special stages, and regained nine of the twelve places he lost with the penalty on Friday. After a trouble free rally, Mikko Hirvonen finished fifth fastest in his Subaru Impreza WRC2004 to score his highest ever WRC finish and collect points for Subaru.
Petter Solberg"To lose 5 minutes 40 seconds on Friday, but still finish in fourth place is a pretty incredible result I think and I'm very happy. We know where we could have been if it wasn't for that penalty, but that's just how it is sometimes. I'm feeling very positive about the way the new car felt to drive. It's even better than I had expected, a real improvement, and I think the number of stage wins has proved how good it is. I've really enjoyed this new event, the stages were fantastic and apart from the incident on Friday I've had really good fun here in Mexico."
Mikko Hirvonen"Yes, I'm really happy with the result. I think I could have got better had I been pushing but that's not what this one was all about for me. I've learnt quite a lot about the new car and the Pirelli's on gravel. I've made a few changes along the way which I think will be of real benefit in the future. I'm particularly pleased that I made no real driving mistakes over the past few days. I think I still have lots to learn on the slow and twisty sections, but sometimes they went very well so I know I can do it. I'm just going to be working on my consistency now."
David Lapworth, Subaru World Rally Team Principal"Of course, we're here to win so we can't be completely satisfied with the result, but it's been a fantastic performance from Petter and an impressive debut for the new car. Nine wins out of fifteen stages speaks for itself and gives us a positive outlook ahead of the next round in New Zealand. I'm very pleased with Mikko's performance too. He's achieved everything we've asked of him, gained a lot of valuable experience of the car and the tyres and has done a very professional job."
Round four of the 2004 FIA World Rally Championship starts in just over three weeks time when teams travel across the globe for the Rally New Zealand, the second gravel rally of the year. Comprising a total of 395.50 competitive kilometres and 23 stages based around the city of Auckland, the event starts on Thursday 15 April and concludes on Sunday 18 April. Rally Headquarters will be based at the Sky City complex in Auckland.
