Solberg really pleased with 2nd overall

Petter Solberg had a rather satisfying first day in Wales, ending the opening leg in 2nd place overall.

It was not as smooth as he had expected it though as he had to complete four out of the six stages of the day with a gearbox problem. It didn’t dent his determination and he set competitive times in the afternoon to go into day two with a 1.8s gap to the leader Sébastien Loeb.

“I am really happy about second place today”, he said. “Without the problems we had, I know I could have been faster. We noticed that we had a gearbox problem on SS4 and it got worse during the afternoon. I am so surprised we managed to set the second fastest time on the final stage. That shouldn’t really be possible. I’m happy about second, which means a good road position for tomorrow.”

Not only did Petter had to struggle with a dodgy gear-box, a broken starter-motor also caused him a bit of a challenge, as he knew he would not be able to start the car again if he stalled the engine.