Petter Solberg recorded his fourth podium finish of the year yesterday when he secured third place on the Rally of Turkey. In a thrilling final Leg battle, Petter set a string of fastest stage times to pile the pressure on the leaders and narrow the gap to second place.

Having won 39 special stages so far this season, Solberg maintains his position as the fastest driver in the series, six ahead of his nearest WRC rival Sebastien Loeb. Mikko Hirvonen brought his Subaru safely to the finish in sixth place to add to the Subaru points haul.

Petter Solberg"I'm quite happy to be on the podium again. Overall I think the performance has been good. We could have done so much better if it wasn't for the first day. It's unfortunate, but that's how it is. Second place this morning looked possible, especially when I heard the splits. Although we tried everything we could, it just wasn't possible to close the gap on the guys up ahead. Looking forward, I'm feeling very optimistic about Argentina. I've done well on every rally so far and I hope it's going to be a good fight all the way this year."

Mikko Hirvonen"We got some more points for ourselves and Subaru so are very pleased. The event was rougher than I thought it would be and extremely hard on the tyres. The next two events should prove good for me as there is much more fast stuff, which is what I prefer, and I'm looking forward to the cooler conditions of Argentina."David Lapworth, Team Principal"We have to be pleased that we have come out of this event with a podium place and six points for Petter. Petter remains the only leading driver to have scored points on every round this year and from a Championship perspective we remain in a strong position. Mikko has got another important finish under his belt and we've been working on particular aspects of his driving here in Turkey. He's learned a lot, gained valuable experience of another entire event and contributed more points to the Team's effort."

Teams cross the Atlantic for the next round of the 2004 World Rally Championship, the Rally of Argentina, which starts on Friday 16 July. In contrast to the recent rough events, Argentina is a smoother, faster gravel rally, which will also be considerably cooler this year thanks to a calendar shift to the winter season.