WRC
Rally Australia: Subaru final summary
Subaru World Rally Team driver Petter Solberg finished Rally Australia in second place today after an excellent performance on the red gravel roads around Perth. Solberg's Impreza WRC2006 ran perfectly over the final 103 kilometres and enabled him ...
Edited: Oct 30, 2006, 1:38 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Subaru World Rally Team driver Petter Solberg finished Rally Australia in second place today after an excellent performance on the red gravel roads around Perth. Solberg's Impreza WRC2006 ran perfectly over the final 103 kilometres and enabled him to win three of the day's stages -and a total of six throughout the rally. After a small mistake on Leg one cost Chris Atkinson the rally lead and 25-minutes of penalty time, his focus switched to learning the stages and testing for the next WRC round in New Zealand. Nevertheless, another consistent and reliable run from Atkinson moved him up seven more places today and he finished inside the top ten. Overall the weekend was an encouraging one for Subaru, with both factory Imprezas showing an increased level of competitiveness after a relatively disappointing season so far.
Stage Summaries
SS21: 0703 ATKINS 1 (4.42KM)
In dry but overcast conditions, Petter Solberg was quickest through the forest sprint at Atkins; one of the shortest stages of the rally. But with the Fords of Gronholm and Hirvonen right behind, Solberg was only able to narrow Hirvonen's overall lead to 31.1sec. Gronholm was second fastest; doing all he could to keep his championship title hopes alive but needing problems for the front runners to stand a chance. Hirvonen was third and reported that the road was still damp and slippery in places after overnight rain.
Fastest Time: Solberg (Subaru) 3:06.1
SS22: 0733 HELENA NORTH 1 (29.93KM)
Matching each others progress using split-times relayed to their cars, there was little to separate Hirvonen and Solberg through the 29km Helena North section. Hirvonen won the stage, but with Solberg just 0.8sec back, the Finn's lead remained at around 30sec. The slightly damp and slippery surface caused problems for a few competitors, notably Ford privateer Luis Perez-Companc, who went off the road several times, felling some small trees in the process. Chris Atkinson, following Perez-Companc through the stage, had a shock when he found a tree across the road, straight after a blind crest, 7km from the start. He swerved to miss it, but the rear of his car was damaged as it glanced off another tree by the roadside. As the damage was largely cosmetic, Atkinson pressed on and completed the section in the seventh fastest time.
Fastest Time: Hirvonen (Ford) 17:06.0
SS23: 0814 HELENA SOUTH 1 (17.31KM)
On the last stage before the midpoint service, it was Solberg's time to have a scare, when his car hit a big rock in the middle of the road. His Impreza hit the rock hard enough to bounce it off the road, but the impact caused no mechanical damage. The Norwegian went on to record the third fastest time, five seconds slower than stage winner, Hirvonen.
Fastest: Hirvonen (Ford) 8:57.8
SS24: 1103 ATKINS 2 (4.42KM)
Solberg kept pushing though the first of the final loop of stages; his winning time was 5sec quicker than the best recorded on Atkins when it was run earlier in the day but, with a 36sec gap to the leader, the Norwegian said at the finish that he would be satisfied to end the rally in second place. Twenty-six year old Hirvonen set the third fastest time and remained on course to achieve his first ever WRC rally win. Gronholm, now up to fifth, set the second fastest time, but had no chance of making up further places without problems for those ahead.
Fastest Time: Solberg (Subaru) 3:01.3
SS25: 1133 HELENA NORTH 2 (29.93KM)
With the end almost in sight, Solberg, Hirvonen and Gronholm were evenly matched through the long, repeated Helena North stage. Solberg took the win, his third of the day, with Hirvonen and Gronholm next fastest, separated by just 0.2sec. Chris Atkinson was fourth fastest with Manfred Stohl rounding-off the top five.
Fastest Time: Solberg (Subaru) 16:59.1
SS26: 1214 HELENA SOUTH 2 (17.31KM)
No dramas for the top ten as they tackled the last ever Perth-based stage of Rally Australia. Mikko Hirvonen brought his Focus WRC across the line in the fastest time to take his maiden WRC victory. Petter Solberg finished second, his best result since April's Rally Argentina, while Manfred Stohl took the last podium place. Marcus Gronholm finished fifth, but it wasn't enough to prevent Sebastien Loeb from securing the 2006 World Championship for drivers, regardless of the results on the two remaining rallies.
Fastest Time: Hirvonen (Ford) 8:55.9
Team Quotes
SUBARU WORLD RALLY TEAM MANAGING DIRECTOR, RICHARD TAYLOR:
"It's been quite some weekend! We've had both drivers leading during the rally; we won nine stages and then came home with second overall. This is a big milestone for the Subaru team as there have been a lot of difficult events in the past few months. You cannot turn a car's performance around overnight and there has been a great deal of hard work to get us this far. We're not at the top of the podium yet and so we still have much more work to do."
PETTER SOLBERG:
"I am very, very happy to get second place. It's been a really tough season and the team has been working so hard for this, day and night. We're still going to keep pushing on the car, as there's still more to do, but today I am really pleased for all the team and mechanics as it's a big boost for everyone."
CHRIS ATKINSON:
"It's not the result we wanted, but we had the pace we wanted and we haven't had that speed for a long time. To be leading the rally on Friday was good and sure, we made a small mistake, but it's encouraging to have that speed. I don't think we would have held onto the lead but we would have been on the podium. So while the result is disappointing, we're encouraged and keep on learning about the car."
News from Pirelli
MARIO ISOLA, PIRELLI COMPETIZIONI RALLY MANAGER
"Throughout the weekend both Subaru drivers have used the Pirelli KP tread pattern tyre. The tyres performed very well throughout the event, despite some very hot and slippery conditions. It is very good to see Petter back on the podium and we look forward to seeing more success."
The Next Event
The next, and penultimate round of the 2006 World Rally Championship is Rally New Zealand, which starts in three weeks' time from a new base in the city of Hamilton. A classic drivers' rally, the stunning gravel roads in New Zealand are like rollercoasters that carve through the lush green countryside of the North Island. Subaru has enjoyed considerable success on the event, with Petter Solberg claiming a momentous victory there in 2004. Leg one begins on Friday 17 November.
-credit: swrt
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Rally Australia SS23 results
Next article Rally Australia: OMV Peugeot final summary
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Sébastien Loeb
Sebastien Loeb tests new Project Rally One 2027 WRC car
WRC
WRC
Rally Italy
Sebastien Loeb tests new Project Rally One 2027 WRC car
Sebastien Loeb to make traditional stage rallying return
WRC
WRC
Sebastien Loeb to make traditional stage rallying return
Sebastien Loeb after 13 Dakar punctures: Cars now extremely robust, tyres the weak link
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar
Sebastien Loeb after 13 Dakar punctures: Cars now extremely robust, tyres the weak link
Latest news
Manthey acknowledges IMSA to be "tougher than expected" despite two wins
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 10 h
Manthey acknowledges IMSA to be "tougher than expected" despite two wins
How a philosophy shift brought BMW to new heights in 2026
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 10 h
How a philosophy shift brought BMW to new heights in 2026
Fred Vasseur reveals two costly moments that denied Ferrari US GP double podium
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
10 h
Fred Vasseur reveals two costly moments that denied Ferrari US GP double podium
Cleetus McFarland set to compete full-time for 2027 ARCA championship
ARCA
ARCA ARCA 12 h
Cleetus McFarland set to compete full-time for 2027 ARCA championship
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe