WRC: Rallly Japan - Disappointment for a dominant Solberg
 

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Subaru's Petter Solberg has said that he's gutted to have lost out on his first victory since the Corona Rally Mexico in March after his retirement from today's final leg of Rally Japan. The Norwegian had taken a 32-second lead into closing five stages of the gravel forest event, but crashed out just 30 kilometres from home.

Solberg said that there was nothing he could have done to avoid retirement after damaging his suspension on a rock during an off-stage excursion on the penultimate stage of the rally. It has been a lean season for the 2003 title winner, as Citroen's Sebastien Loeb has romped home to a string of six successive wins and a total of eight wins on his way to securing a second consecutive drivers' title.

The Subaru team has struggled for pace this year with its new 2005-spec Impreza and only secured a first victory for the car in the recent Wales Rally GB when on-the-road leader Loeb took a two-minute time penalty to avoid winning the title in the wake of the fatal accident for Peugeot co-driver Michael Park.

"It's shocking, I almost can't believe it," Solberg said. "I don't really know what to say. Things had been perfect for the 24 stages before, and we were so close to the result we wanted, but then it just went in an instant. We could do nothing to avoid the rock, it was right in the line, it happened so fast and that was that. I'm absolutely gutted. There's nothing more to say."

Subaru team boss David Lapworth said he shared Solberg's frustration, but added that he was happy with how the Impreza had performed following suspension changes prior to the event. "Clearly all of us at Subaru are devastated," he said. "But the only reason it hurts so much is that it was so good up to that point. If we can take any consolation at all it's that, in performance terms, we were back where we should be. The setup changes we have made to the car's suspension have taken its performance to another level and I think that bodes well for the remaining rallies."