At the start of the year, with the new cars being introduced, many people thought Solberg would recover his winning form. These thoughts were reinforced when he was running in a strong position for most of the rally, until an incident with the local police lead to a driving ban which forced Solberg to switch seats with his navigator Chris Patterson. The pair finished fifth a the end of the rally.
Their luck was not to change, however. An electrical problem, more specifically the wiring loom coming loose, was to blame in Mexico.
With Portugal came a remarkable four punctures, with two of them on the same stage, and in Jordan he crashed out. All of Solberg's problems came whilst he was fighting for a podium spot.
“It’s flat-out everywhere from now on. It’s got to be. It’s frustrating that we’ve had such a tough start to the year. In Portugal, we were in a good place without strategy and then we got the puncture[s], the same with Mexico, everything was looking good. Now the strategy is to be fast, that’s it.” he said.
Solberg has a good history on the next event, though. He won the inaugural Rally d'Italia Sardegna in 2004, came second in 2005, 5th in 2007 and 3rd in 2009. He says he is happy that the event will mark its return to the WRC this year.
“I like the event,” said Solberg, who will be co-driven by Northern Irishman Chris Patterson. “It’s always a tough rally, but the roads are good. It’s going to be an exciting one and we have always gone well there in the past. I want some results from these rallies now.”
Solberg will be navigated by his regular navigator Chris Patterson and will drive his PSWRT Citroen DS3 WRC in partnership with Citroen Racing Technologies.
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