Peter Solberg drops out due to a severed cable

The Subaru team confirmed this week that Petter Solberg’s retirement on the last day of the Rally Argentina was caused by a cable section in the heart of his car’s electrical system.

Solberg and his co-driver Phil Mills began the final day of the Rally Argentina in second place, aiming for their best result since the Rally Portugal 2007. But in the middle of the first stage, the Impreza WRC2007 stopped, with the electrical system out of order.

The team’s operations director, Paul Howarth, explained that the car had been analyzed in detail since its return from Argentina to the British factory on April 2.

« We are still investigating the exact circumstances of the failure. It’s not something we have encountered before », explains Howarth. « We know that the failure is a consequence of a severed cable but we are trying to understand what caused such a cut. The wires were checked on the cars prepared for the Jordan Rally and we made a small modification in that area. »

Howard explains that the nature of the problem and the inaccessibility of the part prevented Solberg from repairing during the stage.

“There was no warning, everything just stopped like that,” says Solberg. “Until then, the car was running well, we had no negative indication. But the dashboard screen went white, the engine stopped, it was over. I was in shock. We did the usual checks. Phil called the team while I checked the connections starting with the battery. But I couldn’t reach all the wires under the car. We exceeded the time limit we had. I was very disappointed but you have to know how to accept it. I think Phil was even angrier than me. Two cars on the podium would have been a great result for the whole team.”

Solberg remains confident nevertheless. Despite the withdrawal, the Subaru Impreza WRC2007 proved to be more performant in Argentina than ever before: The car performed very well during one and a half stages on Saturday morning and in the four afternoon stages, it was very competitive. Sometimes it’s not perfect yet, but in general, I’m very satisfied. We can now attack more.

Thanks to these advancements, Solberg now believes in victory before going to Jordan: « David Richards and the entire team are giving their all at the moment. They are working very hard and I am very impressed with the progress. Our performance in Argentina is good for motivation. In Jordan, I am certain that if the car does well, we can fight for the victory. It’s up to the team to prepare the car before the start, then it will be up to me to perform. »

According to a WRC (Web) press release