Rd.2 Uddeholm Swedish Rally

8 Feb to 11 Feb 2007

LEG THREE

Atkinson has to settle for eighth after small mistake costs him dearly

11 February 2007

Copyright © STI 

Starters

51 crews left the service park at Hagfors for the final leg of the Swedish Rally.

Route

The third and final leg of the Swedish Rally was made up of five stages. A morning loop of two stages located close the service in Hagfors was repeated in the afternoon, after a 30-minute service. Crews then headed back to the host town of Karlstad and a repeat of the Super Special stage, run previously on Thursday. Sundays total competitive distance was 86.32km.

Weather

It was a sunny, cloudless morning and temperatures were lower than during the previous two days of competition. It got slightly warmer and cloudier as the day progressed, and more snow fell during the afternoon. On SS17 (Malta 1) at 0915hrs, a temperature of minus 20 Celsius was recorded.

Subaru World Rally Team Summary

For the second WRC rally in succession Chris Atkinson finished in the points-scoring positions, although the final leg of the rally was a dramatic one for the Australian. He started the day in fine fashion by setting the fastest time on SS16. It was his first WRC stage win on a snow rally and closely followed his first fastest time on an asphalt rally, achieved on last monthfs Rallye Monte Carlo. But two stages later he ran wide into a ditch and damaged the rear left corner of his Impreza WRC. The time lost meant he dropped from fifth to eighth overall and had to complete the last two stages of the rally at a reduced pace.

Stage Summary


Copyright © STI 
SS16: 0818hrs Backa 1 (30.96km)
From 0630hrs crews left Karlstad under clear blue skies to head to Hagfors and the first of the days five stages. After two relatively mild days, on which temperatures hovered around minus eight degrees Celsius, Sunday was significantly colder and at the time control of SS16 it was minus 21 degrees. The brand new 30km Backa stage was the setting for Chris Atkinsons best result of the rally. The Australian set the fastest time his first of the rally - and moved ahead of Daniel Carlsson into fifth place overall. That was a new stage for all of us, so we all went into it with the same amount of experience, said Atkinson. I tried to have a steady run through so Im pleased with the time.
Fastest Time: Fastest time: Atkinson (Subaru) 16:31.6

SS17: 0915hrs Malta 1 (11.25km)
The second stage of the morning loop was Malta, one of the shortest of the rally, and a test that has remained unchanged for many years. Like Backa before it, Malta was a fresh road for the competitors and conditions were good, with a light dusting of snow on top of a hard ice base. For the first time this weekend Petters brother Henning Solberg was the quickest driver, stopping the clock at 5min 42.2sec. Chris Atkinson had a trouble-free run to set the fifth-fastest time, and slightly increase his lead over Daniel Carlsson to 2.9sec.
Fastest Time: Fastest time: H.Solberg (Ford) 5:42.2

SS18: 1054hrs Backa 2 (30.96km)
After a 30-minute service, crews set off to repeat the previous loop of stages. But in the two hours since the first run, conditions had changed significantly. The temperature had risen to minus 15 degrees Celsius and the passage of so many cars had made the road surface rougher, with patches of gravel replacing the ice in many of the braking zones and corners. Unfortunately the tricky conditions got the better of Chris Atkinson who after 18km slid off the road and into a ditch. The impact damaged the left-hand rear corner of his Subaru and filled the radiator with snow. Despite bent rear suspension, Atkinson pushed on to complete the stage, but lost 56sec to the leaders, and dropped from fifth overall to seventh.
Fastest Time: Fastest time: Gronholm (Ford) 16:30.0

SS19: 1157hrs Malta 2 (11.25km)
The last proper stage of the rally was a difficult one for Atkinson, who lost more time as a result of the accident on the previous test. We tried to fix the damage at the stage end but there was no chance really, said Atkinson. We had no choice but to drive through this one at a reduced pace. Atkinsons time through the 11km section was 1min 20sec slower than that of stage winner Marcus Gronholm, and he dropped another place to eighth overall. With just the 1.9km Super Special to go, Atkinson would have to measure his pace to protect the car and keep ninth-placed Mads Ostberg behind him.
Fastest Time: Fastest time: Gronholm (Ford) 05:44.1


Copyright © STI 
SS20: 1400hrs Super Special Stage Karlstad 2 (1.90km)
The final stage of the rally was a return trip to the Super Special in Karlstad, and in front of thousands of spectators, the WRC crews completed the figure of eight loop two at a time. There were no last stage upsets for the leading competitors, and Chris Atkinson brought his damaged Impreza through the stage to hold on to the final points-scoring position. After being so steady, its annoying that one small mistake cost us three places, said Atkinson. But Im glad we managed to salvage one point.
Fastest Time: Fastest time: Gronholm (Ford) 1:40.7

Team Quotes

Copyright © STI 
Richard Taylor, Subaru World Rally Team Managing Director
It has been a frustrating day for Chris. What looked like a strong fifth place for him turned into eighth place. Its still a championship point, but it is not the target we had set ourselves for this event. However, weve learnt a little bit more about the car and the BFGoodrich tyres here and can put that to good use on Rally Norway in a few days.

Copyright © STI 
Chris Atkinson
The mistake on SS18 was disappointing, especially for the team, because we were on course to bring home three more championship points. But weve been encouraged by our pace here this weekend, we chose the right strategy of making a cautious start and what happened was just one those unfortunate things. Now it is important for us to look ahead to Rally Norway and try to get the best result we can there.

1 Marcus GRONHORM FORD Focus RS WRC 06 3:07:00.0  
2 Sebastien LOEB CITROEN C4 WRC +49.8  
3 Mikko HIRVONEN FORD Focus RS WRC 06 +1:36.1  
4 Henning SOLBERG FORD Focus RS WRC 06 +2:04.9  
5 Daniel CARLSSON CITROEN Xsara WRC +3:35.3  
6 Toni GARDEMEITER Mitsubishi Lancer WR05* +3:52.7  
7 Manfred STOHL CITROEN Xsara WRC +5:07.0  
8 Chris ATKINSON SUBARU IMPREZA WRC2006 +5:21.8  
9 Mads OSTBERG SUBARU IMPREZA WRC* +7:35.8  
10 Jan KOPECKY Skoda Fabia WRC* +7:48.2  
* Non manufacuturer entry

Next event

The start of round three of the World Rally Championship is just four days away and will be a special occasion for Petter Solberg. For the first time, Subarus star will be able to compete on home ground, because Rally Norway is making its debut on the WRC calendar. The event will be based in the agricultural city of Hamar, which is about 130km north of the countrys capital, Oslo.