Q&A with Petter Solberg

Petter Solberg will star the final day of Rally d’Italia Sardegna in fourth overall and firmly in contention for his first podium of 2011.

Driving a Citroen DS3 WRC for his eponymous team, the Norwegian ace is 4.9s adrift of third-placed Sebastien Ogier with four stages of the demanding gravel event left to run.

Tell us about your afternoon...

“It was good. The stages went well except for the middle one. I tried to test on that kind of surface but it was not possible to get anywhere.”

What kind of place was that?

“Somewhere with some quite soft and sandy roads, we didn’t get that sort of road. It wasn’t a problem for the set-up, but I knew that we would struggle for the grip in there. I know what it is now and we can make a small change for tomorrow to make it better.”

What do you change on the car for tomorrow?

“It’s the camber, that’s where we’re working. I’m burning the outside of the tyres too much on the long stages. On the first split I am the fastest, but then coming into the harder sections, I am not able to keep the speed. I can’t lean on the tyres as much as I would like to, so changing the camber will help with this for tomorrow.”

You opened the differential a little bit for this afternoon. Did that help?

“Yes, it did. It made the car easier to drive for me.”

What’s possible for tomorrow?

“We are in a very good position for tomorrow, that’s for sure. The guys ahead are all going to be pushing to catch the car in front, so everything can still happen. Take away the puncture I had on the second stage this morning, where I lost 12 seconds and everything it’s closer still. It’s the little things again.”

Is there a lot of gravel around?

“On the first run through the Power Stage, there will be a lot of gravel around, I think there will be a lot of cleaning there. But after that, the roads are a bit more like yesterday, not so much cleaning.”

Are you looking at second tomorrow?

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s got to be, but I won’t stop trying.”

Are you surprised that Loeb has been able to stay at the front?

“No. Like I said it’s the little things and when they all work for you, everything is possible, we can see that with [Sebastien] Loeb, he has driven well, but everything is working for him. You can’t think too much about this too much. Tomorrow I am in the better place on the road, but at the same time he has a lead.”

After Sebastien Ogier won Portugal and Jordan from the front, does this mean the only tactic is to go flat-out now?

“It really depends on the day and on the conditions. He did a good time on the middle stage this afternoon and if he hadn’t done that, then it would have been quite difficult.”