ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2007

We are in the middle of August, and the WRC has landed in Germany. Rallye Deutschland is the second event on tarmac this year, but the first for Petter and his new Impreza WRC2007. 105 cars are on the entrylist for this rally, and the organizers expect more than 250.000 spectators to follow the rally. The stages shifts from beautiful Mosell-wineyards to the military area in Baumholder. This year the servicepark has been moved from Bostalsee and to the city of Trier, south in Germany.

Sebastien Loeb has won the Rally of Deutschland 6 times. Petter had to retire from the rally in 2006 and ended 7th in 2005. In 2004 Petter and Phil had to retire after a terrible accident at Panzerplatte.

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Rally Finland 2007

Marcus Grønholm was the winner of this years Rally Finland. With the fastest time on 17 out of 23 stages, the flying finn were unbeatable. His team-colleague Mikko Hirvonen followed in 2. place. Sebastien Loeb ended with 3rd place. Chris Atkinson started the rally with the fastest time on the first stage, SSS1 Killeri, and ended with a 4th place overall. The new SWRT-member ended with a 6th place overall in his first rally with a Subaru. Henning drove safely through the stages, and ended 5th.

On Saturday SWRT decided to retire Petter from the rally, due to all the problems with the car. The car was sealed immediately, and was brought directly back to Banbury for a close inspection.

The next event will be Rally of Deutschland, 17. – 19. August 2007.

Overall Classification Rally Finland 2007

1. Marcus Grønholm, Ford
2. Mikko Hirvonen, Ford +24,2
3. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen +1.09,9
4. Chris Atkinson, Subaru +3.02,8
5. Henning Solberg, Ford +4.29,4
6. Xavier Pons, Subaru, +7.00,5
7. Urmo Aava, Mitsubishi +7.39,6
8. Mads Østberg, Subaru +9.31,9

Petter retires from Rally Finland

SWRT has decided to retire Petter from Rally Finland, due to all the problems with the car today. Petter did complete stage 15, but will not continue to SS16, but go directly back to the servicepark.

SWRT managing director Richard Taylor said: “We haven’t been able to identify the problem that Petter has experienced with the car and there is little point in him continuing the event at this speed. The only sensible thing to do now is to retire the car from the leg and bring it back to service so we can begin a thorough analysis.”

BBQ at SWRT

PSSC and Destination Rally spend the evening at a BBQ with SWRT. They were all having a great time, and as always, the food was delicious!

End of Leg 1 – Rally Finland

Marcus Grønholm is in the lead when day 1 of Rally Finland is completed. But with only 4,4seconds down to his team-mate Miko Hirvonen in 2nd position, nothing is settled yet. Loeb is in third position, 20,2 seconds behind Grønholm. None of the top three reported any difficulties during the day, however Grønholm feels it is hard to first on the stages. Loeb lost 5 seconds after a engine stall in a bend on SS4.

Petter is in 5th position when the day is over, 57,3 seconds behind Grønholm. But with only 10 seconds up to Chris Atkinson in 4th, there might be a fight between team-colleagues tomorrow. Petter was not very happy about the car after the three first stages of today and said it felt like the car was pulling on only 2wheels. A gearbox and driveshaft change at the service, changed all that, and the car was back on track. Phil said they now were picking up speed and was hoping to get a second or two on each stage for the rest of the day.

Henning is in 7th position, 1.32,8 seconds behind Grønholm. Henning says he is quite happy with the both the times and the car. Petters new teamcolleague, Pons, has been driving good all day, but went of the road on SS8 Urriah and damaged most of his rear spoiler.

Rally Finland continues tomorrow Saturday with 9 stages and 3 stages on Sunday.

Overall classification Leg 1

1. Grønholm, Ford
2. Hirvonen, Ford +4,4
3. Loeb, Citroen +20,2
4. Chris, Subaru +46,9
5. Petter, Subaru + 57,3
6. Sordo, Citroen +1.22,6
7. Henning, Ford + 1.32,8
8. Stohl, Citroen +1.45,8
11. Pons, Subaru +2.21,8

On tour with the norwegian supporters

The norwegian supporters had an early start, with breakfast at 0600hrs. But no one missed it, and soon they were on their way to SS2 and SS5 Vellipohja. Between the two stages they got back to the bus and had some warm lunch. Next stop was SS8 Urria, and tonight there will be a BBQ at SWRT hospitality together with team-members.

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Overall SS7

Marcus Grønholm is in the lead when 7 stages are completed. Petter says he had problems with the brakes and that the car is hard to drive, yet he manages to keep 5th position. At the mid-service they changed the transmission, and Phil says they are now hoping to catch a few seconds on each stage.

Overall classification after SS7 Palsankyla

1. Grønholm, Ford
2. Hirvonen, Ford +0,8
3. Loeb, Citroen +11,7
4. Chris, Subaru +22,5
5. Petter, Subaru + 31,6
6. Sordo, Citroen +47,0
7. Henning, Ford + 48,7
8. Stohl, Citroen +1.08,5

On tour with PSSC in Finland

This weekend you can get to know the norwegian supporters, travelling to Finland with PSSC and Destination Rally. They arrived today, and here they are – ready for the first stage SSS1 Killeri.

Stay tune for the weekend, more pictures and stories will follow. And there might be a “blonde” surprise for you!

Rally Finland

Only Marcus Grønholm drove faster than Petter during shakedown this morning. Petter did 5 runs, with the 2nd run being the fastest. Rally Finland continues tonight with a superspecial starting at 2000 (local time).

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