Miami GP || May 5 || 16h00 (Local time)

SS15: Despair for Solberg in Argentina

Power steering failure wrecks Solberg’s hopes

By Franck Drui

28 May 2011 - 22:54

Petter Solberg’s bid for his second consecutive podium finish is in tatters after his Citroen DS3 WRC suffered a mechanical failure on Saturday’s final stage.

A distraught Norwegian reached the stage finish punching the steering wheel of his car after a power steering failure resulted in him falling 1m16.1s adrift of leader Sebastien Ogier.

Ogier’s Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb won the stage to close to within four seconds of factory Ford pilot Mikko Hirvonen, who is second overall, 43.7s behind Ogier.

Standings after SS15:

Pos.	Driver	Car	Time
01	S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA	Citroën DS3 WRC	3h20m05.8s
02	M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+43.7s
03	S. LOEB / D. ELENA	Citroën DS3 WRC	+47.7s
04	P. SOLBERG / C. PATTERSSON	Citroën DS3 WRC	+1m16.1s
05	M. ØSTBERG / J. ANDERSSON	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+4m55.9s
06	F. VILLAGRA / J. PÉREZ COMPANC	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+5m52.9s
07	M. WILSON / S. MARTIN	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+7m00.3s
08	J. LATVALA / M. ANTTILA	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+12m12.6s
09	H. PADDON / J. KENNARD	Subaru Impreza	+21m58.3s
10	P. FLODIN / M. ANDERSSON	Subaru Impreza	+29m58.3s
11	M. KOSCIUSZKO / M. SZCZEPANIAK	Mitsubishi Evo X	+30m18.5s
12	D. TAGIROV / A. ZAVERSHINSKAYA	Subaru Impreza	+32m45.0s
13	A. KREMER / K. WICHA	Mitsubishi Evo X	+37m02.4s
14	N. FUCHS / F. MUSSANO	Mitsubishi Evo X	+37m20.4s
15	K. BLOCK / A. GELSOMINO	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+37m21.7s