On the podium in Jordan

Petter Solberg and Phil Mills drove in to a third place overall today here in Jordan. – It feels good to be on the podium again, and I’m very pleased for both my team and my sponsors, Petter Solberg said after the finish podium. – The rally went well, except for that two stages yesterday, were I really struggled to find the grip. I had the perfect car, and I’m very happy to be able to be up there and fight for fastest times.

Sebastien Loeb won Jordan Rally, with Jari-Matti Latvala in second place. With his third, Petter secured more points in the championship, and is now 4th overall with 35 points.

Next event is Rally Turkey, 16 – 18 April.

Overall classification Jordan Rally 2010
1. Sebastien Loeb, Citroën
2. Jari-Matti Latvala, Ford +35,8
3. Petter, Citroën +1.11,8
4. Dani Sordo, Citroën +1.49,3
5. Matthew Wilson, Ford +8.24,3
6. Sebastien Ogier, Citroën +10.26,4
7. Federico Villagra, Ford +11.28,0
8. Kimi Raikkönen, Citroën +12.31,0
9. Henning Solberg, Ford +14.08,6

Overall classification 17 of 21 stages

- It was a lot of playing this morning with the other teams, and it ended with Ogier is sweaping the road infront of Loeb. Hirvonen were suddenly car number three starting the stage, and is infront of Latvala. We ended up with being 5th on the road. Still 4 more stages to go, and I think it is possible to catch up on Latvala.

Overall classification 17 of 21 stages

1. Loeb, Citroën
2. Latvala, Ford +37,8
3. Petter, Citroën +58,6
4. Sordo, Citroën +1.36,1
5. Wilson, Ford +6.50,9
6. Villagra, Ford +9.22,1
7. Ogier, Citroën +9.56,9
8. Raikkönen, Citroën +10.23,9

Jordan Rally day 2

Second day in Jordan is finished, and Petter is 4th and 43 seconds behind Loeb, who leads the rally. Latvala is third, but only 15 seconds ahead of Petter.

- It’s been really good on 4 of todays stages, and I have exactly the starting position I wanted for the final day, Petter says. – I must admit I didn’t plan to be more than 40 seconds behind the leader, but it is a long day tomorrow and a lot can happen.

6 stages have been contested today, 3 stages done twice. Petter and Phil set the fastest time on two of the stages, and were second fastest on SS8 and SS11. But on the longest stage of the day, The Jordan River, they lost some time. – I struggled with the grip on that stage, on both runs. There is nothing wrong with the car, just didn’t have any grip.

Tomorrow is the final day here in Jordan, but with more than 100kms to contest (8 stages) on the final day, it will certainly be an exciting day. First car is on the road from 0820 (local time).

Overall classification day 2 Jordan Rally

1. Loeb, Citroën
2. Ogier, Citroën +24,6
3. Latvala, Ford +27,7
4. Petter, Citroën +43,2
5. Sordo, Citroën +48,8
6. Wilson, Ford +5.05,7
7. Villagra, Ford +6,51,0
8. Raikkönen, Citroën +8.09,0

PSWRT crew – servicepark Jordan

Here’s a little bit of our everyday life in the servicepark. Enjoy!

Overall classification 10 of 21 stages

Overall classification 10 of 21 stages

1. Latvala, Ford
2. Loeb, Citroën +4,7
3. Ogier, Citroën +14,1
4. Petter, Citroën +28,0
5. Sordo, Citroën +34,3
6. Wilson, Ford +3.17,9
7. Villagra, Ford +4.26,3
8. Raikkönen, Citroën +5.46,7

- Did very well on the two first stages, perfect set up for that. But the set up didn’t work that well for that last one, we had no grip and lost time.

Jordan Rally day 1

- 0,7 behind Loeb on that last stage was the perfect ending on the first day here in Jordan, says Petter Solberg. – But I must admit it was very tight, but good team-work secured a good starting position for the next day. I’m very happy with everything so far, and we just had to “play the game” at the end of day. Road position is so important for a good result. We will see during the day tomorrow what our next step will be.

7 of 21 stages are done in Jordan, and Petter is 4th. Jari-Matti Latvala is the overnight leader of the rally, and will also be first on the road tomorrow. Petter and Phil were fastest on two of todays seven stages and could have been in the lead if they hadn’t decided to just go for a target time on the final stage and secure a good start position.

Jordan Rally continues with 6 more stages Friday. First car will be on the road from 0800 (local time).

Overall classification day 1 Jordan Rally

1. Latvala, Ford
2. Ogier, Citroën +30,2
3. Loeb, Citroën +31,8
4. Petter, Citroën +32,5
5. Hirvonen, Ford +42,2
6. Sordo, Citroën +45,4
7. Henning, Ford +1.20,9
8. Wilson, Ford +2.01,1

Jordan Rally, 1 – 3 April

Petter Solberg World Rally Team is en route for Jordan and the third event on the 2010 calendar. Jordan Rally is based by the Dead Sea, about one hour drive from Amman. We are in the Middle East, and Jordan, with its population of 5,7 million people, borders to Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the West Bank. The surface is gravel and we are expecting temperatures up to 50 degrees. From the extreme altitude in Mexico, we are now preparing for extreme heat in the Middle East.

- Jordan will be extremely exciting, says Petter Solberg. – Everything was perfect in Mexico and that second place felt so, so good. We will be using our second car for the first time in Jordan, together with a new and improved engine. I have already been in Jordan for a couple of days, relaxing and spending some time with my son, Oliver.

Jordan Rally starts with Shakedown on Wednesday. The first proper day of rally will be Thursday and the final day is Saturday. A total of 21 stages will be contested over the days. The first time Jordan Rally was on the WRC calendar, were in 2008; Petter had to retire after he went off the road and Mikko Hirvonen won the event.

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Trucks leaving for Jordan

Next event is Jordan Rally, and even though this is not a “long-haul” event, our trucks with equipment have a long journey going there.

Both trucks drove from Torsby in Sweden March 15 heading for the first stop; Rioz in France. In Rioz there were 24hrs of reloading before they set off for the next part of the journey, the drive to Trieste in Italy. Arrived Trieste on the 19th, loaded onto a ship that sailed off the next day. For one week now, the ship will be crossing the Mediterranean, go trough the Suez Canal before entering the Red Sea. From there it will sail to Aqaba, the only seaport in Jordan. On Saturday March 27, our truck drivers will be in Aqaba, waiting to unload the trucks from the ship. The same day they will take the trucks in a Police convoy, the 4 hrs drive up to the service-park by the Dead Sea.

On Sunday March 28, we will all be in Jordan starting to unload the trucks and building our service area.