Subaru Takes Lead at Rally of Finland

Currently third place in the manufacturer’s championship at the ongoing World Rally Championship, Subaru is looking to catch up with Ford and Citroen in the standings. Ford currently sits at the top of the leader board with 114 points after eight events while Citroen has 86 points. Subaru has only recorded 43 points so far. Initially, the team fielded two cars in the championship but added a third car in mid season.

The team’s quest to bring back the glory days of the Japanese team in the sport recently gained a foothold after a Subaru driver took the lead in the opening stage of the Rally of Finland. Chris Atkinson in his Subaru Impreza posted the fastest time in the super-special stage of the event.

The Australian Atkinson posted the best time of 1 minute and 20.6 seconds over the 2.06 kilometer opening stage. Another Subaru driver in Petter Solberg finished in the top five. Solberg’s time is 0.7 seconds slower than Atkinson’s. Solberg placed fifth in the opening stage. Meanwhile, Xevi Pons, Subaru's third driver, finished just outside of the top ten for he was one second slower than the tenth placer Juho Haninnen on a Mitsubishi Lancer.

Obviously, Atkinson is pleased with his car’s performance at the opening stage of the event. But in the first leg of the event, he only placed fourth. Nevertheless, Atkinson is still elated with his fourth place achievement on the first leg of the event. “I’m happy with what we’ve achieved today. Fourth overall is a good place to be at the end of leg one here in Finland – especially as I’ve only driven this rally three times before,” said the Australian.

With his car still undergoing improvements, Atkinson is confident that they will have a better performance for the remainder of the season. “I know there are still improvements to come with our car, but you can see from the speed we’ve had today that we’re not very far away, which is encouraging. I’m feeling very positive about this event now, as for tomorrow we’ll just have to see. We’ll try our best, that’s all I can say,” he claimed.

Fellow Subaru driver Solberg is also pleased with the performance of their cars. Subaru fields Subaru Imprezas this season with racing parts such as Subaru oil filter designed to meet the demand of the sport on the cars.

“We ended the day 100 times better than we started it, that’s for sure!” enthused Solberg. “Things turned around for us after the first service and since then we’ve been able to push a lot harder than earlier when it felt like we only had a two-wheel-drive car. Fifth overall is a good result considering the start we had, and I think there is still a lot of potential for improvement over the next two days.”

At the start of the season, Subaru was struggling to get points and Ford and Citroen drivers have been plucking points easily. The improvements on their cars are now enabling Subaru drivers to mount resurgence. Even Pons who is participating in his first event this season is pleased with their cars’ performance.

“I am really pleased with the way today has gone,” the Spaniard said. “The more time I spend in the car the more comfortable with it I become and the more speed I know I will find. For me, it is great to be a part of the Subaru World Rally Team and I am looking forward to the rest of the weekend,” Pons concluded.