Petter Solberg’s Subaru will be shod with uprated Pirelli tyres at this weekend’s Cyprus Rally and the Norwegian intends to drive steadily on the opening leg, before going flat out on Day Two.
Petter Solberg’s Subaru will be shod with uprated Pirelli tyres at this weekend’s Cyprus Rally and the Norwegian intends to drive steadily on the opening leg, before going flat out on Day Two.
Solberg slipped to second in the drivers’ championship after Rally Sardinia, which was won by Citroën’s Sébastien Loeb. Following a tyre test last week, the Norwegian hopes the new Pirelli rubber will give his Impriza WRC an edge over Loeb’s Michelin-shod Xsara.
“I’m going to go to Cyprus with a different approach. We’re going to try to win, but we know how difficult it is to do that these days,” said Solberg. “I’m going to start calm, see where the level is and then go for maximum attack on Saturday. From what I’ve heard, the rally is going to be very rough this year. It’s always a hard rally, very rough and bumpy with lots of loose rocks, but I like that”.
“We completed a tyre test, there was some improvement, but we’ll have to wait and see how it works on the rally. You never know properly before you are fighting against the other guys.”
“Cyprus is traditionally a good event for Pirelli,” Subaru team boss David Lapworth said. “It has a very strong record on the hot, rough rallies, but with every rally both tyre companies are revealing new developments.
“Pirelli’s rival has obviously been working hard to address this weakness and it’s obvious from the results in New Zealand and Sardinia they’ve made improvements.
“The opposition has looked strong recently and it’s going to be interesting to see if Pirelli’s new evolutions put them back ahead in Cyprus,” Lapworth concluded.
