Solberg: “It’s flat-out from now on”

Petter Solberg will start next week’s Rally d’Italia Sardegna with a new strategy for the rest of the season: he’s going flat-out for wins.

Solberg’s fifth place on the season-opening Rally Sweden left him with a favourable position on the road on the ensuing gravel rallies, but a mix of mechanical problems in Mexico, punctures in Portugal and a crash in Jordan have forced a change of approach from the 2003 world champion.

Solberg, who is fifth in the standings and 43 points adrift of championship leader Sebastien Loeb, said: “It’s flat-out everywhere from now on. It’s got to be. It’s frustrating that we’ve had such a tough start to the year. In Portugal, we were in a good place without strategy and then we got the puncture, the same with Mexico, everything was looking good. Now the strategy is to be fast, that’s it.”

Solberg admits he is excited about the WRC’s return to Sardinia after it missed out on a slot on last year’s schedule. He won the first ever Rally d’Italia on the island in 2004 in a factory Subaru Impreza WRC.

“I like the event,” said Solberg, who will be co-driven by Northern Irishman Chris Patterson. “It’s always a tough rally, but the roads are good. It’s going to be an exciting one and we have always gone well there in the past. I want some results from these rallies now.”

Solberg is driving a Citroen DS3 WRC run by his own Petter Solberg World Rally Team in conjunction with Citroen Racing Technologies.

Prior to resuming his bid for world championship glory in Sardinia, Solberg’s next focus will be on how Simon Jean-Joseph performs in his PS Engineering-run Citroen Xsara WRC on a French gravel championship event in Auxerre this weekend.