Petter Solberg wins his 1st Swedish Rally A very special victory for Petter Solberg
February 14, 2005
Petter Solberg claimed victory on the Swedish Rally to take his first WRC win of the year, his first in Sweden and the eleventh of his career. Locked in a thrilling battle with Marcus Gronholm until the final stages, the Norwegian and co-driver Phil Mills took six stage wins and won the event by a margin of 2 minutes 11.1 seconds.
Claiming ten points in the Drivers' and Manufacturers' Championships, the result marked Subaru's 45th WRC victory, the 44th with the Impreza, and was a perfect climax for the WRC2004 model, which will be replaced for the next event in Mexico.
Completing his WRC car debut, Chris Atkinson posted some more impressive stage times and climbed up to ninth overall, before an incident on SS18 dropped him down the leaderboard. His team-mate Stéphane Sarrazin fulfilled his aim of gaining experience of the specialist conditions and he finished thirteenth.
Petter Solberg
"It's a great feeling, like a big dream, I almost can't believe it's true. This rally is so special but has been tough for me in the past, and now this year it's just gone perfectly. We made no mistakes all rally - not in the car, or in the team, or anywhere - it just all came into place so well. There are so many people to thank, everyone from Phil Mills, to the guys who work on my car, to Pirelli who have built such an incredible tyre, and the supporters out on the stages who cheered us along. Thanks so much to all of you!"
Stephane Sarrazin
"I'm quite happy with the way this rally has gone, especially today as we changed some of the set-up and it was much, much better. It was almost like a different rally to me. The car was much easier to drive and gave me more confidence so I could get a better driving rhythm. There's still a long way to go, but I'm encouraged. I'm very happy for Petter too - it's a great result for him and the whole team."
Chris Atkinson
"Today I picked up the pace a little bit, drove a bit harder, and on SS18 I found the limit, but it's all good experience and there's no better way to learn than that. Overall I'm very pleased with what Glenn and I have achieved here in Sweden. It would have been disappointing if we had driven slowly and didn't go off and learn anything, so instead we had a fair bit of a go and obviously made some mistakes. Of course the overall result could have been an awful a lot better, but the goal for us was to come here to learn and we've certainly done that. Petter has had an awesome weekend and I'm very happy for him and the team. He's proved how quick the car can be here and I look forward to doing that myself in the future. I'm concentrating on Mexico now. After some more time in the car I don't think we'll be too far off the pace."
David Lapworth, Team Principal
"I think this has been one of Petter's greatest ever victories. It's been an emotional one too as it's pretty much his home event. He did a great job of managing the conflict between his head - which said think of the championship points, and his heart, which of course wanted him to win. The fact that he responded so well to the added pressure is a sign of a true champion. Both Chris and Stéphane have also been very impressive and have more than achieved their individual
