Solberg cautiously confident after New Zealand test

Petter Solberg and Phil Mills tested their privately-entered Citroen C4 WRC yesterday on roads in New Zealand that were representative of the rally route they will face this week. Manufacturer 1 teams are not allowed to test outside of Europe, whereas no such restrictions apply two Manufacturer 2 teams such as Solberg’s.

However, despite stringing together an impressive sequence of podium finishes and moving up to second in the drivers’ championship, Solberg’s team does not believe that the New Zealand test will give them a decisive advantage on the rollercoaster gravel stages.

Petter Solberg World Rally Team manager Ken Rees said: “We actually didn’t do that many kilometres, but it was on a road that was quite representative of the conditions. The test was more to confirm that Petter was happy with the settings as they were rather than to look for anything new. I don’t think it’s going to be a huge advantage for us.”

With Rally New Zealand’s pre-event shakedown being held on asphalt, Solberg will be the only driver with recent experience of New Zealand gravel when the cars head into the first loop of stages on Friday.

“That’s true, but the manufacturers will have done far more kilometres in Europe for their pre New Zealand tests than we have done over here,” added Rees. “It’s actually quite easy to find roads in Europe that are similar to the ones in New Zealand, so I don’t think that they will be on the back foot at all. For us, it’s just a question of making the best of what we have, but Petter is certainly feeling confident after the test.”

Solberg’s recent run of form means that he will now start Rally New Zealand’s opening day from second on the road in front of Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen, making it likely that he will be slowed by loose grave