WRC – Solberg: My victory will come

The Ford drivers tried everything to defeat Citroën, Sébastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen once again proved their superiority by signing their third consecutive double in the Rally from New Zealand. After Jari-Matti Latvala's exit, Petter Solberg represented the British team's only hope. However, the 2003 world champion was unable to make up for lost time by switching to hard tires on the wet stages of the first stage and finished the event in third place, more than a minute behind leaders.

Petter Solberg believes the Fiesta RS has the potential to win WRC seeming able to set the pace of the DS3 WRC. The Norwegian hopes that the racing circumstances will favor him to return to the success he has sought since the 2005 Wales Rally GB. “We came here with a good car and good chances but our mistake on Friday ended our hopes of victory. It was bad news for the team but a podium is still a good result. The most important thing of the last stage was to stay calm to maintain third place and taking the bonus points from the Power Stage was a good conclusion (two points with Jari-Matti Latvala winning the special). We need luck and we will need to make sure we are well prepared for the next rallies to finally secure that elusive victory. The speed of the car is fantastic and everyone in the team is working hard to achieve success and I think it will come soon. »

Discover the analysis of the New Zealand Rally carried out by our special correspondents in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow in digital version for iPad, PC and Mac, and from Wednesday on newsstands.