Will Solberg win anytime ? [Archive]

Fide

1st May 2008, 02:58

Since 2003, where Solberg beated everyone and looked invincible, I just see him loosing and loosing and trying to drive a car that seems a complete disaster !!!! Just this year when seems the car is improving (just a bit) he seems nervous and permanently doing mistakes. The one million question is if he can return to win or deninitly this is a no returning point and we will get really bored looking Sebastian winning and winning and winning. I really miss those epic battles.....

tmx

1st May 2008, 03:53

Welcome to the forum. I think there is a chance that he might win once during this season, but equality a chance for Chris. He was able to get to 2nd place in Argentina before the car broke down. The team is improving now.

People need to stop using the word never in their sentences, I can't requote all of you when the drivers proved you wrong.
Mikko will never win a rally, etc.

Koz

1st May 2008, 07:59

Petter seems quite like Marcus in 04-05... Sometimes pace is there but too many mistakes/technical problems and excuses...

HaCo

1st May 2008, 08:07

I hope he will win again! If onlye ford or citroen boys wins it is just to boring. Same counts for atko!

DonJippo

1st May 2008, 08:27

Petter seems quite like Marcus in 04-05... Sometimes pace is there but too many mistakes/technical problems and excuses...

Marcus did win though in 04-05 and would have won even more having been driving with BF Goodrich.

Tomi

1st May 2008, 09:04

I dont think he will, anyway not by driving, if 3-5 retires from the front he might win.

grugsticles

1st May 2008, 09:06

Petter will win again.
You can see that he wants desperatly to do so, he just needs a bit of luck his way and it will come.

GigiGalliNo1

1st May 2008, 09:33

Not too sure about Henning.... :p

MJW

1st May 2008, 09:46

Petter will win again, if the (new) car is anywhere near the Focus or C4 I can see multiple wins. Henning is another matter, he seems to be getting worse results this year than for a number of years. In all honesty I think Henning is Division 3, along with the likes of Stohl etc. whilst Petter is up there with Loeb, Jari Matti & Marcus, I consider Mikko, Atko and Sordo to be division 2. I could go on and put the current drivers into 4 divisions but wont bother.

Helstar

1st May 2008, 11:37

Marcus did win though in 04-05 and would have won even more having been driving with BF Goodrich.
I think you mean Michelin, yes it's the same thing but ... xD
The BFG brand entered in WRC 2006.

And are you sure that the 307 had Pirelli tyres in 2004 ? I think they had Michelin...

Montecarlo 2004 pics (Michelin stickers)
http://www.rally-live.com/wrc/it/photos/2004/persos01/diapo_132.shtml

Wim_Impreza

1st May 2008, 12:47

No, Petter has lost speed, made a lot of mistakes the last rallies and the car isn't good enough to win. It seems he lost his motivation, too.

Mv Toy

1st May 2008, 16:36

No, Petter has lost speed, made a lot of mistakes the last rallies and the car isn't good enough to win. It seems he lost his motivation, too.

I totally agree!
Look at Atkinson, i think Petter will be struggling to beat him this year!

pettersolberg29

1st May 2008, 17:55

Woodeye

1st May 2008, 20:26

If Petter doesn't get a chance to drive for some other team than Subaru I'm pretty sure that he will quit within 2 years.

Tomi

1st May 2008, 20:38

If Petter doesn't get a chance to drive for some other team than Subaru I'm pretty sure that he will quit within 2 years.

Same here, his joy for driving is totally gone if the new car will not be competitive i think he wont drive long time anymore.
The problem for petter is also that there is not really anywhere to go, all seats are full, I hope that Atkinson understands that if sitting in a crap car it's better to do 1 year contracts at time so that he is ready to take off if some good seat become avilable.

WRC2006

1st May 2008, 22:36

I used to be a huge fan of Petter, but this time I don't think that he is going to win any rally in the future. Even if with a new and fastest car, I am afraid he will be making mistakes and mistakes. If no mistake, it is almost impossible to beat Loeb, Latvala, Hirvonen, etc.

The thing is, people don't realise that Petter is no longer motivated at all. He is frustrated, he failed so many times to deliver while his car was fine. I followed him since in Ford, but Petter of 2003 is not the same Petter of 2008. They are completly different people. He is gutted, and he is getting old no team would offer him a 1st seat with the new talent emerging.

I don't agree with some who say that Petter is unlucky for such long time? In everything happened or is happening to his car he shares reaponsabilities with his team. Only in fews rallies where you can say he was unlucky (eg. Japan 2005, Australia 2006?).

He seems not to know what is wrong with his car and drive accondingly. One of the example is the "dumpers". Since last year, we know that Subaru has got more problems with dumpers. Petter in cutting hard the corners and hitting the rocks in those corners, he contribute 100% in crashing his car. If he knows that the car can't resist on such pressure with high speed, why he cannot take off a little bit his leg from the pedal and preserve the car? How many time did you hear Chris having the same problems of dumpers? Because he knows the car is weak in that part so no need to push it hard. Chris is driving with his head (intelligence) and Petter is just loosing it.

It's clear that if the Subaru is pushed hard then you expect more problems, why pushing to the limit the car? He just want to impress.

Staying with Subaru again this year, was a huge mistake from him. I would chose second role as a driver with a winning car and team rather than 1st role with a s**** car. But he opted for $$$$$$$millions and he doesn't care about the results. How many drivers in WRC have got private jet?!

In brief, I don't see him winning any rally, and if he has to win, it would be after Loeb, Latvala, Hirvonen are out due to mechanical problems or their mistakes. But in real battle, where everything equals to 0, I don't see him winning any rally.

A.F.F.

2nd May 2008, 00:01

The thing is, people don't realise that Petter is no longer motivated at all. He is frustrated, he failed so many times to deliver while his car was fine. I followed him since in Ford, but Petter of 2003 is not the same Petter of 2008. They are completly different people. He is gutted, and he is getting old no team would offer him a 1st seat with the new talent emerging.

What makes you 100% sure Petter wouldn't get his motivation back? One success feeds another they say.

I agree it's hard to see him as a winner anymore but to totally write him off the map is bollocks. Professional athletics are a bit different people than the rest of us who seem to grow on streets.

It's funny to follow media praising one Teemu Selänne. It's funny since the same media which gave him no future with a sports anymore while he had bad period.

Tomi

2nd May 2008, 00:06

It's funny to follow media praising one Teemu Selänne. It's funny since the same media which gave him no future with a sports anymore while he had abd period.

True, but in fläsäs case it was about a knee injury, not a menthal thing.

A.F.F.

2nd May 2008, 00:10

True, but in fläsäs case it was about a knee injury, not a menthal thing.

Again mostly true but once he got traded to Sharks, he didn't get the ice time he wanted and things got worse in Avalance, which efected his motivation. Think his knees as Petter's Subaru ;) Both were ****e.

Tomi

2nd May 2008, 00:17

Again mostly true but once he got traded to Sharks, he didn't get the ice time he wanted and things got worse in Avalance, which efected his motivation. Think his knees as Petter's Subaru ;) Both were ****e.

Nothing wrong with Petters car, Atkinson is doing fine with the same car. ;) and teemu should have choosed surgery right away, not wait for years.

WRC2006

2nd May 2008, 00:19

What makes you 100% sure Petter wouldn't get his motivation back? One success feeds another they say. .

He may get back his motivation unless the new car is totally on top and reliable. And I don't see this happenenig soon?! C4 is stronger already, Ford Focus is getting new parts and some updates by 15th August this year. All those 2 cars have been rallying since last year. It would be a suprise for me the new Subaru coming from a poor Impreza and outpace the superdog in the field?!

I agree it's hard to see him as a winner anymore but to totally write him off the map is bollocks. Professional athletics are a bit different people than the rest of us who seem to grow on streets..

Good luck for him.

It's funny to follow media praising one Teemu Selänne. It's funny since the same media which gave him no future with a sports anymore while he had abd period.

I never ignore the force of the media!

Sulland

2nd May 2008, 00:28

This also has to do with driving style. The current car does not suite Petters style, and he is overdiving it to compensate for everything.

Atko seems to better to adapt his style to the car and drive around the problems.

If the new car does not work for him, I think Petter will do 1 of 4 things;

1. Get a drive in another team
2. Set up his own M2 team
3. Start driving Rally Cross with Marcus and Henning
4. Quit all active driving, and "retire"

Either of these 4 can happen before the end of the season !

klm-607

2nd May 2008, 01:53

Petter's last 2 retirements were Car related problems, not his fault. He was in good positions both times, then... disaster! I'm not a big Petter fan, but I do believe he can still win, if only occasionally. Petter needs some luck & a more reliable ride.

I was & still am a Huge Gronholm fan, but now that he's gone I lean towards Henning & Jari-Matti. Jari-Matti has alot to offer in the near future. Henning just seems like a really nice guy... very likeable, & down to Earth.

koko0703

2nd May 2008, 02:10

I believe Petter still got speed to compete against Loeb etc., but also he should be little more patient about the car. I can understand the frustration with poorly performing car but pushing the current Subaru beyond its limit doesn't do any good for Petter or team. Chris seems to settle with the best he can do with what he has right now, and Petter needs to adopt some of that style. Pushing to the limit doesn't always mean pushing to the limit of driver's ability. With little bit of patient, Petter could've got pretty decent result with unfortune of other drivers.

N.O.T

2nd May 2008, 08:12

how many drivers did you see over the whole history of rallying to return from the dead and start winning again after a long absence ????

......

exactly......

Brother John

2nd May 2008, 08:54

This also has to do with driving style. The current car does not suite Petters style, and he is overdiving it to compensate for everything.

That is exact what I have tried to say since 2006, nobody reacted or I had much critical responses.
I think Petter still can win rallys but not in these type of modern rally cars.
We have to blame the modern rally cars + factories, also the F.I.A. with their stupid rules. Everything together, that made a mess of rally.
Petter were or is not the only one who had problems to adapt to these cars.
Marcus Gronholm is also from the time that there still was real rally cars.
He got the same problem at Peugeot when they came with too much HIGHTECH in the car and he moved, plus he did not only chose for the money but also for the fun of driving. :rolleyes:
At Ford he has himself adapted to the new rallycars style, but had longer fun to drive them and stopped in spite of he still has the fire inside him to drive.
You want more examples who left the wrc for the same reason?
For example look around and you find a lot of Rally drivers who left the WRC to do something else. I would say, F.I.A. wake up and don´t wait too long with everything.

Tomi

2nd May 2008, 09:29

Petter were or is not the only one who had problems to adapt to these cars.

This i have never understood really, a top driver should quickly learn to drive different cars.

MJW

2nd May 2008, 10:11

He seems not to know what is wrong with his car and drive accondingly. One of the example is the "dumpers". Since last year, we know that Subaru has got more problems with dumpers. Petter in cutting hard the corners and hitting the rocks in those corners, he contribute 100% in crashing his car. If he knows that the car can't resist on such pressure with high speed, why he cannot take off a little bit his leg from the pedal and preserve the car? How many time did you hear Chris having the same problems of dumpers? Because he knows the car is weak in that part so no need to push it hard. Chris is driving with his head (intelligence) and Petter is just loosing it.
.

I rather see a rally driver "drive flat out" and cut corners etc. rather than preserve the car. Real drivers, Colin, Tommi Makinen, Ari, Markku Alen, Marcus all attacked. Sure Burns and other intelligent drivers won championships but dont come in the same league for me. Drivers should drive, engineers and mechanics build cars to take this punishment.

A.F.F.

2nd May 2008, 11:07

Drivers should drive, engineers and mechanics build cars to take this punishment.

:up:

Best damn words for a long time :D

janneppi

2nd May 2008, 11:16

For example look around and you find a lot of Rally drivers who left the WRC to do something else. I would say, F.I.A. wake up and don´t wait too long with everything.
And how many of those weren't offered proper a seat in a car or were closing in on the 40 year mark? ;)

tmx

2nd May 2008, 11:49

I could think of more than a few on top of my head, except I wouldn't say they wanted to leave.

DonJippo

2nd May 2008, 12:13

At Ford he has himself adapted to the new rallycars style, but had longer fun to drive them and stopped in spite of he still has the fire inside him to drive.

I think those 250 days absent from home and family per year had a quite a lot more to do with his decision to retire than modern rally cars or driving style.

jonas_mcrae

2nd May 2008, 15:12

Mv Toy

2nd May 2008, 16:17

^Really?

In all but Monte Carlo, Petter has outpaced Chris until technical errors.

In fact, if you look at every rally so far, Petter has yet to make a massive mistake in any one of them.

MC - fine but not his favourite rally; still got a PB
Swe - Best driver outside the Fords
Mex - retired due to from 3rd
Arg - retired after electrical (?) failure from 2nd
Jor - retired due to damper prob from 2nd. Later rolled due to brake failure.

Without car probs, he would have had 32 points then no-one would be doubting him.
So he has yet to crash or make a mistake due to poor diving yet this season - with a good car we'll see Petter back on top. Next year, every event suits Petter's driving - and I predict he will be 2009 World Rally Champion.
I'll save this message to prove it in 2010!!

Chris was faster in Mexico- He was faster on 6 stages against 3 for Petter
if we look at the stages before Petter "retired" from 4th place

In Sweden he has problems to be faster then Mads Östberg!
Next year he will have more problems with Mads! Mads will be faster
then Petter!!

He would have so many points if! IF is IF!!! If Loeb did not went off and
Sordo without 5min penelty both of them would have been before Petter
in Sweden!! If Loeb and Rautenbach!!!
Many other drivers had also problems!
If all drivers where out of problems, some of them have beaten Petter
and he would have less points!

leno

2nd May 2008, 18:31

i think petter has problems because he just want perfect car but he cant adjust his car with testing. he is just looking for perfect conditions instead of adjusting his head and driving style

F1boat

2nd May 2008, 18:48

I think that it is tragic that Petter's car so slow in recent years. He is great driver and deserves better. I hope that he will be able to win soon.

Sulland

2nd May 2008, 20:05

Will be interesting to see who of the drivers that will adapt best to the new simpler and less powerful S2000Turbo cars !

Maybe we have a whole new ballgame !

Tomi

2nd May 2008, 21:17

Will be interesting to see who of the drivers that will adapt best to the new simpler and less powerful S2000Turbo cars !

Maybe we have a whole new ballgame !

I dont think so, those who can drive a car can drive, there has been some changes in recent years too, and much talk about who might benefit from those, still the same guys has been in the front.

WRC2006

2nd May 2008, 22:52

I rather see a rally driver "drive flat out" and cut corners etc. rather than preserve the car. Real drivers, Colin, Tommi Makinen, Ari, Markku Alen, Marcus all attacked. Sure Burns and other intelligent drivers won championships but dont come in the same league for me. Drivers should drive, engineers and mechanics build cars to take this punishment.

The rally and championship of today turned to be more serioud business than the sport. So, if it is business (where you have to think about money, marketing, cost, etc) better to run accordingly. Pushing the "get around" car will never help him unless exposing his weaknesses. Chris is proving him wrong!

WRC2006

2nd May 2008, 22:58

appart from all the car/team/dampers/etc you know who is also loosing the motivation? Phil Mills, after that Argentina retirement he was devastated more than petter, he is half of the team and if both are in such a mental state then they are finished... sad but true

I think what you are saying has got a part as well on their performance. Since 2005 I have been asking myself if their relationship still intact as before or not?

WRC2006

2nd May 2008, 23:05

i think petter has problems because he just want perfect car but he cant adjust his car with testing. he is just looking for perfect conditions instead of adjusting his head and driving style

Can't say better.http://images.forum-auto.com/icones/smilies/jap.gif

gloomyDAY

3rd May 2008, 04:00

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67090

Petter may have a shot.
He and Chris tested the new car.

F1boat

3rd May 2008, 09:27

I hope that it is good.

leno

3rd May 2008, 10:50

finnaly also chris and petter tested cars; are any comments about car yet?

Motorsportfun

3rd May 2008, 17:57

Just came back from the tests. I felt Petter wasn't happy about the car. During the week, they had some problems, but I want to see back on the success line the team, so good luck guys!! :)

dimviii

3rd May 2008, 19:36

any more comments Motorsportfun?
what kind of problems? :)

savvas

3rd May 2008, 20:15

His best chance to win this year would be the Acropolis rally.
Next best chance is Rally of Turkey.

Viking

3rd May 2008, 20:25

finnaly also chris and petter tested cars; are any comments about car yet?

Petter tells Norwegian media that he is not allowed to tell anything about the new car, he couldn’t even put a picture of it on his web-page.

Finni

4th May 2008, 03:47

If new group N car is any indicator ther might not be [required] massive improvements..

Motorsportfun

5th May 2008, 23:14

any more comments Motorsportfun?
what kind of problems? :)

No, I'm sorry. We all have to wait the debut :)

Halvis

7th May 2008, 11:34

Is it confirmed when the debut will be?

COD

7th May 2008, 11:40

Petter tells Norwegian media that he is not allowed to tell anything about the new car, he couldn’t even put a picture of it on his web-page.

Or..., because there is nothing positive to say, he rather shuts up??

grugsticles

7th May 2008, 12:06

Yeah, when I read the article on WRC.com I also got the impression that Petter wasnt exactly hugley excited about the progress of the '08 car. Maybe hes being really secretive, but IMO Petter is always very exact with his 'secret' predictions.

pettersolberg29

7th May 2008, 17:57

grugsticles

7th May 2008, 18:57

In Motorsport News today, it says an insider has told MSN that there is a 80% chance that the N14 is to be debuted in Greece.

Apparantly the Impreza 08 is much faster, but not more reliable that the current one from what I've heard on a Norwegian forum.
Well, we can hope that the reliability will come with the drivers not having to push so hard and thus are be easier on the car when driving.

tmx

7th May 2008, 23:39

gloomyDAY

15th May 2008, 03:57

Definitely not going to win at Greece!

Car has been delayed, again. (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67407)

Koppomsbo

15th May 2008, 07:47

Well, at least i will see the old car this weekend. Leaving for the airport now, hope that the weather will be great :D

Brother John

15th May 2008, 11:24

Definitely not going to win at Greece!

Car has been delayed, again. (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67407)

Maybe Petter can win the SHAKEDOWN at som rallys this year. ;)

pettersolberg29

15th May 2008, 11:47

Not Italy though unfortunately!

Fide

19th May 2008, 14:47

Did you see ? Another dissapointing rally for him... Really a pity how a talented competitor is being beating due to the poor performance of his car. I think Last chance will come with 08 version, and if doesn't work unfortunately bye bye Petter. This week-end seems his mood was horrible since he didn't talk with press.

Daniel

19th May 2008, 15:38

I know things like the bonnet and the puncture can't be helped but you just get the feeling that Petter isn't giveing 100% all the time. When the car isn't 100% perfect Petter just quits when Atkinson would keep on giving 100% and getting the best result the car is capable of in his hands. Petter is underachieving.

No one likes a quitter. I think if he doesn't pull up his socks I will soon rate Galli above him. For all my criticism of Galli at least Galli always gave 100% all the time with the Mitsubishi which wasn't a great car.

AndyRAC

19th May 2008, 15:57

This is a tough one. No, I don't think it is, but people do give him the benefit of the doubt all of the time. It can't always be the car, but normally when you say that all the Solberg fans come out and defend him. Which while admirable, isn't always correct. He must occasionally take the blame. Chris just gets his head down and drives round any problems.

turves

19th May 2008, 15:59

I think 2004/5 and into 2006 Petter was giving 100%. Part way through last year things started getting on top of him, and Chris' consistency this year has knocked him even more. From reading this weeks GPWeek, Martin Holmes reports that the whole SWRT camp were pretty much banned from talking to the press on certain issues (new car and dampers included).

I think you're right though, if the new Impreza doesn't perform he'll either be in another team or out of the WRC altogether.

N.O.T

19th May 2008, 16:04

as a world champion yes.....but he is still among the best and a valuable asset to every team.

Tomi

19th May 2008, 16:07

Chris just gets his head down and drives round any problems.
Thats the right way, the possible car problems dont go away no matter how much you cry, also trying to get the most out of maybe not so good car teaches much about setups and other things to that might be valuable knowledge in the future.
Also the only true measure is the team mate because both driving the same car.

turves

19th May 2008, 16:18

Plus, I think Chris' driving has tidied up a lot, and he is not so hard on the car now. Before, he was very erratic and having accidents and breakdowns. He's matured a lot since Glenn left, but Petter seems to be very hard on the car.

Brother John

19th May 2008, 21:12

Did he have a career? :D Just joking :p :

N.O.T

19th May 2008, 21:26

I think the main reason atko is faster than Solberg is because of mentality...think about it. Nobody expects something from Atko, he is just considered a competitive driver....while peter has all the pressure in his shoulders to perform and be competitive with the current dominant drivers....

The higher you get the harder the fall......

Magnus

19th May 2008, 22:07

The problem I think is that the car is at nintey percent and an Petter is trying at 110 percent. He thus pushes the car to hard. Loeb/Cit is 100/100 while Bosse/Whale was essentialy the creating same prob as petter is experiencing, with the small difference that Bosse made his team mates look slow anyway (mayeb with exception for Burns, who at times almost was as fast as Bosse). Bosse/Ford was probably about 100/100 aswell with Bosses main problem being Loebs tendence of being supernatural.

Roy

19th May 2008, 22:29

If he has the same performance with new car yes, then it is over for Petter. I think it is in his mind.

Tomi

19th May 2008, 22:53

I belive Petters biggest problem is motivation, rallying is just like whatever work but in many ways tougher, because the drivers has to be much off from home, Petter has a family at home, and the bank account is full, I belive that at some point every driver starts to put things in new order, and its propably easier to do it when the carreer is going downhill.

J4MIE

19th May 2008, 23:09

For all the criticism aimed at him, the guy just doesn't seem to have any luck at all :s

A.F.F.

19th May 2008, 23:31

For all the criticism aimed at him, the guy just doesn't seem to have any luck at all :s

I agree. Petter makes even Marcus look like Mr.Fortuna.

duff

20th May 2008, 01:12

I agree. Although his poor performances have been up to him much of the time, I think he has definitely won the title of most unlucky driver of all time. It must be hard to keep your motivation up when nothing seems to go right. Some of his retirementes have been pretty harsh!

gloomyDAY

20th May 2008, 03:42

Things have come to a head. How do you expect him to take such grueling defeats one after another? They are both of his making and of his car. Once an avalanche starts, there is no stopping it!

Petter used to be optimistic and positive about his chances. Now he refuses to even talk to the press. Maybe there is something happening in the background that we don't know about as well. Dave Richards can't be a happy camper with Petter's performance.

Viking

20th May 2008, 10:06

When Petter has a car that works he is clearly faster than Atko, to bad it is so seldom. I agree that Chris seems better this days when car set up is crap, Petter don’t seems to want to overdrive it no more.
What I don’t understand is what is happening with the car from last stage Friday to first stage Saturday, I think that was what shut Petters mouth up.

Anyway Chris was not fast this rally either, fastest stage between them goes 9/8 in Petters favour and I think Chris’s best stagetime was 4`th or something.

bluuford

20th May 2008, 10:16

Answer: No

I am evil Homer

20th May 2008, 10:20

You can hardly blame him if he isn't as committed as he was. He's IMO been giving 100% in a terrible car for a long time and even the most patient person will after a while tend to wonder if all the effort is worth it.

leno

20th May 2008, 10:52

maybe he can win with new impreza in greece next week(they will also introduce new livery)
http://www.swrt.com/news/latest_news.html?id=1485

Buzz Lightyear

20th May 2008, 11:38

maybe he can win with new impreza in greece next week(they will also introduce new livery)
http://www.swrt.com/news/latest_news.html?id=1485

very quick leno!

i think they had nothing to lose, and the current car is woeful.

ST205GT4

20th May 2008, 13:11

When Petter has a car that works he is clearly faster than Atko, to bad it is so seldom. .

Disagree. Petter has the wood over Chris on snow and perhaps a small margin on gravel. He's clearly slower on tarmac than Chris however.

Hope the new car gives them both the opportunity to compete with Ford and Citroen though.

klm-607

23rd May 2008, 05:15

Halvis

23rd May 2008, 08:38

Did ya' see him whining once again about the car being "undriveable" on day 2 in Italy?? For the love of God Petter, SHUT UP & drive already!!! How is it the car loses so much pace overnight when nothing was touched?? I'm so sick of Petter always blaming the car &/or the team... time for him to look inside himself. Yes there have been a few brief moments where he was looking real good only to have the car let him down, but more often than not it's his own doing... he just can't accept blame when he messes up. Chris seems to do just fine w/the same car. I'd love to see Petter & Dani Sordo swap rides for a season... just to see what'd happen. Not likely to happen though.

I agree that he could be more diplomatic when talking about the car, but I'm sure his frustration is overwhelming, so it can't be easy not to say anything. I also agree that it was strange that the car lost so much pace from day 1 to day 2, but I think it's unlikely that they didn't do anything with the car. Didn't you see the incar footage? The car was back to the strange wobbling from side to side again, and surely looked very, very hard to drive. You must also remember the different "approach" to the car that Petter and Chris has. Petter has been world champion and was for 3-4 years always in the top on gravel, while Chris is a relative newcomer - so it is very easy to understand why Petter's frustration is higher than Chris'.

Who doesn't remember Gronholm's frustration of the 307, especially the first year - "I'm fed up with this car" isn't exactly diplomatic either. This illustrates my point, if you have been in the top, winning rallies and championships, I'm sure it feels much, much worse not being in a competetive car.

tmx

23rd May 2008, 08:51

I agree that he could be more diplomatic when talking about the car. I disagree here, I believe he is extremely patience with Subaru especially signing for them until 2009. He was actaully diplomatic with it until near the end of 2007 and even refused to admit the car has problem to the interviewer (Colin) at one point in the end of one rally.

Marcus was much outspoken about the 307. And so was Colin, but I believe something about Colin's criticism push the team (Prodrive) a little more during those early development days.

A.F.F.

23rd May 2008, 11:30

I'm with tmx here. IMO the biggest miracle Petter has done with the car is that he hasn't bashed it more.

Good point about Colin too :up:

Halvis

23rd May 2008, 12:31

I don't disagree with you guys that he could (with a very good reason) bashed the car more, my point was purely based on the fact that the car is his employers sales goods - that's why he probably has been pretty diplomatic upto now. I think I have seen a little more complaints lately, though.

Terrible for Petter if the new car won't be competetive, then he would have thrown away the best years of his driving on a crap car.

koko0703

23rd May 2008, 16:52

I hope the new car will bring some light for Petter, but he looks lost. Not speed or confidence but he's kinda lost in setting up the car. As we all know, Petter prefers the car to be set up just right for him, but I'm afraid he lost the sense of what he exactly wants while he has tried so hard to get most out of underachieving car for last couple years. In fact, I read somewhere that some of the Subaru ppl thinks Petter changes set up too much in the shakedown and ends up running out of time before he can find the one set up he likes.

gloomyDAY

8th July 2008, 18:14

This is Petter's last shot at redemption.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/68989

Subaru have given both drivers the green light to go flat out.
I want some podiums damn it!

Daniel

8th July 2008, 18:15

This is Petter's last shot at redemption.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/68989

Subaru have given both drivers the green light to go flat out.
I want some podiums damn it!
Bwhahahahaha

Buzz Lightyear

8th July 2008, 18:29

mmm.... another change of direction for subaru. its smacks of little of desperation to me.

Lousada

8th July 2008, 19:26

They'd better get some results now or they will look even more inept than ever.

"Every rally is going to have very tough competition. What we've got to focus on is either being faster than the competition and beating them on pure pace or we've got to be in a position where we can benefit from any problems the others might have, such as punctures. But firstly, we need to make sure we have the speed to put the car in that position in the first place."

Wow, the insight. Really.

Gard

8th July 2008, 21:07

mmm.... another change of direction for subaru. its smacks of little of desperation to me.

Nothing new here. This has been the plan since the launch of the wrc2008. SWRT even said this in a press release prior to greece, when explaining why they wanted to debut it in Greece and not in Finland as said earlier.

gloomyDAY

9th July 2008, 03:33

Bwhahahahaha
What's so funny? :confused:

Daniel

9th July 2008, 07:58

What's so funny? :confused:
The fact that Subaru even think they have a chance on pure speed. If they were unreliable but fast I'd say this would give them a chance. But things won't change.....

grugsticles

17th July 2008, 10:54

http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=1882&desc=Subaru%20targets%20podiums%20for%20the%20rest %20of%20the%20year

It seems that Subaru are back, be in in their own minds. Results are obviously yet to come, but if what Richard Taylor was saying about the extra weight, ride height and the car being "very strong and extremely competitive" then perhaps there is some joy ahead for the Subaru camp?

Ive got all my fingers, toes, legs, arms and anything else I can think of crossed in hope!

17th July 2008, 12:33

Just to let everyone know Petter will be in Northern Ireland this weekend, giving demo runs in a Subaru S12B owned by Kevin Lynch, at the Shackleton Charity Festival.

http://rallybuzz.stagetimes.com/petter-solberg-compete-shackleton-charity-festival/

http://rally.ie/article.php?article_id=080523/151126#080717_104423

http://rallybuzz.stagetimes.com/shackleton-charity-festival-entry/

Koppomsbo

28th July 2008, 14:41

Buzz Lightyear

28th July 2008, 15:05

In the last edition of the norweigan version of Automotorsport there was an small articel about that the mechanics in SWRT starting to get realy tired of Petter an his way of working. This was (according to the newspaper) info from an mechanic who leaked this.

The offical story from SWRT was that nothing like this has happend.

Anyone else heard about this?

i think this has been the way for some time now. it would be different if he was winning, and thumping his team-mate, but he is not. Rally Finland and Germany will be interesting for Petter vs. Chris, as Dave Richards recently hinted that Chris was no.1 in team now.

gloomyDAY

29th July 2008, 01:26

i think this has been the way for some time now. it would be different if he was winning, and thumping his team-mate, but he is not. Rally Finland and Germany will be interesting for Petter vs. Chris, as Dave Richards recently hinted that Chris was no.1 in team now.I remember watching that interview with David Richards. We can derive from Richards' supercilious smile that Petter needs to up the ante and perfom better in the S14.