Solberg set to settle for third

Petter Solberg’s team manager Ken Rees says he expects his driver to settle for third position on Rally Australia.

Solberg, in a privateer Citroen DS3 WRC, has been in contention for a podium finish throughout the Coffs Coast event and started today’s final six tests 59.5s behind leading Ford drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen.

Having been unable to make any serious progress in his efforts to close up to Latvala and Hirvonen this morning and with Matthew Wilson more than six minutes adrift in fourth, Solberg is unlikely to attempt any further gains on the closing three stages alongside his Northern Irish co-driver Chris Patterson.

“We’ve reduced the difference but only by a few seconds,” said Rees. “We can’t risk putting the car off the road because we need a podium just as much as Ford needs a one-two. Petter is still pushing and maybe there is a bit left but not 35 seconds over 50 kilometres. We’ve take the fight a bit closer and we’d be delighted to finish third.”

Rees continued: “But at the end of the day we’re still a customer team driving a customer car, which is not the same spec as the factory cars. We’re that bit behind but we can’t complain, we’re still struggling on with our [small] budget.”

If Solberg does finish third then it will be his second podium finish of a largely frustrating season.