Solberg readies for a thrilling battle

Petter Solberg is ready for a thrilling battle on the final leg of rally Japan.

The Norwegian will once again open the road, as he ended Saturday’s run still in the lead.

It was not a straight-forward day though for the privateer: he received a 10-second penalty for a jump start on SS13 and had to relinquish the rally’s lead to a charging Latvala.

Mechanical problems on the Finn’s Ford Focus allowed Solberg to ease back into the lead on SS16, as Citroën’s Sébastien Ogier deliberately slowed down and dropped some ten seconds.

Solberg will take a 3-second lead on Hirvonen on Sunday’s run of stage, with Ogier close behind. Dani Sordo in fourth place is only 15 seconds down on Solberg.

“This had been a very good day”, said Petter. “The car has been perfect all day and it is a great feeling to know we are actually still overnight leaders. I’m getting better and better from my illness and I am really looking forward to a big fight tomorrow. I really thought I would lose more time being first on the road, so maybe it will be good tomorrow as well. I have no other strategy than go ‘flat out’!”

A total of eight stages will be run on Sunday with no service in between.