Petter Solberg’s fighting talk

Fighting talk from Petter Solberg

Remote:Service’s favourite blue-eyed boy has come out fighting, telling wrc.com “A fight for third is my goal as soon as I’m on a rally, if I can’t do that there’s no point in driving.”

That’s a bit extreme isn’t it Petter?

We’re all well aware that Petter is a tad melodramatic, he’s not nicknamed ‘Hollywood’ for no reason, but this seems to be a bit OTT even for him.

Let’s think about it logically – he’s fourth in the standings at the moment, nine points behind Dani Sordo, nine points is nothing, right?

Well actually it is.

Dani is about as consistent as rally drivers come and although Petter can boast more stage experience, Dani is driving a much better car so I would be very surprised if Petter is able to keep up with him on all of the remaining events this season.

He’ll have to drive to the absolute limit if he’s to keep up with the pace and we all know what happens when Petter pushes to the extreme…flashback 2004….

I’m not for a second saying Petter shouldn’t have dreams but he’s got to be realistic about his chances.

After Subaru’s shock exit last year we saw a glimmer of the old Petter Solberg magic….Without a drive for 2009 he pulled a privateer team together within a month. He even turned down the offer of a full-time drive in the Courage-Oreca team for the 2009 Le Mans Sportscar series.

Does he really want to give it all up now when he’s poured so much into getting his career back on track?

He’s shown he’s the most dedicated rally driver out there and if he keeps on consistently finishing rallies as he is now I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets picked up by a manufacturer team next year.

A miracle might happen and he might finish this championship in third place, but he’s got to be careful – pushing too much and having goals beyond his reach can only end in a fall from grace.

Weekly round-up 6th March to 12th March

• The Race of Champions organisers have dropped Wembley Stadium as the venue of the end of season all-star event. Organisers have apparently got five different proposals to choose from and will announce their decision in the next few weeks.
• Dani Sordo has been testing Citroen’s C4 WRC HYbrid4 in Portugal this week. It was the first time the car has had a proper asphalt test on competitive roads. The car features different modes; an Internal Combustion mode, where the car behaves exactly like one of Citroen’s regular petrol C4 WRCs, Electric mode which is used on road sections and in service parks, by engaging a 125kW electric motor the wheel wheels are only given drive to quieten the car down. Finally there is a Boost mode which uses both the petrol engine and the electric motor to give an extra 300 Nm of torque.

Sounds like a dream rally car but in today’s world of WRC the likelihood of these cars ever running competitively is next to none if Max Mosley and his ‘brilliant’ money saving ideas are anything to go by.

• According to Eurosport Petter has been testing a Grande Punto S2000 this week. Apparently Petter took part in the Abarth team test “with a view to participating in a few international rallies”. Eurosport seem to think that the “international rallies” Abarth, who are active in the IRC, referred to in their press release might indicate a possible Petter Solberg participation in an IRC event this year. – I’ll believe it when I see it, maybe he’s just working through his options for next year.