New Impreza WRC2005 takes victory on debut race
Petter Solberg and the new Subaru Impreza WRC2005 won Rally Mexico by a margin of 34.5 seconds yesterday. Having led the event from start to finish, the Norwegian took six stage wins to claim his second WRC victory of the year and the 12th of his career. Claiming ten points in both the Drivers' and Manufacturers' Championships, Petter and co-driver Phi Mills now lead the Drivers' standings. Their success also marked Subaru's 46th WRC victory, the 45th with the Impreza and was the perfect result for the debut of the new Subaru Impreza WRC2005.
Competing for the first time as a nominated driver for the Subaru team and for only the second time in a WRC car, his team-mate Chris Atkinson delivered another impressive performance. The young Australian set some encouraging split times before retiring with a technical problem on the final stage.
Petter Solberg"It's incredible, I'm just so happy! To get a win with the old car in Sweden and another with the new one here is a great feeling - for sure there's still more to come from this car but I'm very happy with the progress we've made already. It's also very special to be able to win here for Mr Kuze. Without him, none of this would be possible, and I'm pleased to be able to dedicate this win to him. At the end of the day this result is all about teamwork, and I'm lucky to have such a great group of people behind me, from Phil in the car to everyone else at Subaru, I can't thank them enough. The Championship is getting pretty close now, there's some very close competition and I reckon this year will turn out to be one of the greatest battles we've ever seen in the WRC."
Chris Atkinson"Obviously I'm a bit disappointed not to finish, but I think I've learned so much this weekend it's almost irrelevant. The speed has been encouraging; especially as I wasn't pushing so much that we went off the road all the time. The new car feels great, and there's definitely more pace in it yet. In New Zealand I'm going to be looking to get some good experience of the stages and hopefully a useful finish position too."
David Lapworth, Team Principal"A fantastic performance from Petter and a great result for the team. Introducing a new car is always a bit of a nervous time, but today's result is a fitting reward for all the hard work that the team has put in. Of course it's difficult to cover everything in testing, but I was pretty confident that the new base car was very good. Now, thanks to the excellent relationship between Petter and Pierre (Genon, chief engineer) we're making some encouraging progress with the set-up and fine-tuning, which looks good ahead of the forthcoming gravel rallies. Chris too did a great job this weekend. He's definitely got the potential to be a future star, but to get there he needs to be given time to learn and develop as a driver. At this stage in his career overall results are of no consequence, we're very pleased with the progress he's made. Like Petter, I know Mr Kuze would have appreciated today's result. He was with the team at its formation back in 1989, for our first WRC win in 1993, all our Championship wins, right through to our 45th victory in Sweden last month. He will be sadly missed."
Round four of the FIA World Rally Championship starts in four week's time when teams will cross the globe for the start of Rally New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the event is a popular one with the drivers who revel in the fast and flowing 'roller coaster' roads, with their heavily banked cambers and rapid direction changes. It's an event that requires strong levels of commitment and natural car control. Starting on 8 April, the three-day event will conclude when the winning car crosses the finish ramp on Sunday 10 April in Auckland.
