Rally of Cyprus
THE TWO PIRELLI-SUBARU IMPREZAS IN THE POINTS AT THE RALLY OF CYPRUS
After their problems during the three race's days, Solberg comes 8th and Atkinson 9th. Al-Qassimi's Subaru 3rd in Group N after leader Al-Attiyah went off on Saturday's leg.
Limassol, 24 September 2006 - The two works Subarus on Pirelli finished the Rally of Cyprus, WRC 12th round that ended today, in eighth (Solberg) and ninth places (Atkinson), which enabled both cars to earn points towards the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers.
After the Group N leader Al-Attiyah's Subaru went off the road and lost the first place in the group yesterday, the best driver in the group on Pirelli P Zero tyres was Al-Qassimi, who was also at the wheel of a Subaru Impreza STi and drove his car to third in his class and 13th overall.
Following yesterday's off road excursion that compromised his optimum provisional placing, Chris Atkinson said of the third and final leg, "I managed my car so that I could finish the race and earn points towards the Constructors' championship, taking into account the fact that because of the deficit between myself and the next cars ahead of me I could not hope to make any more progress before the end of the race. My Pirelli tyres did their job well, supporting us in the best way possible, even on the damp surfaces of this morning's early stages".
Mario Isola, Rally Manager of Pirelli Competizioni, confirmed Atkinson's observation and said, "The Pirelli P Zeros taken to Cyprus, each with different types of tread, completely justified our pre-rally expectations of them. The overall results leave us unenthusiastic, but for our part we were able to record useful data for the forthcoming Rally of Turkey and the further development of our loose surface tyres".
Cyprus Rally final results, event nr. 12 of the WRC Championship:
1. Loeb (Citroën) 4h40'50''4
2. Grönholm (Ford) +21''2
3. Hirvonen (Ford) +5'16''1
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8. Solberg (Subaru) +15'21''5
9. Atkinson (Subaru) +17'15''0
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13. Al-Qassimi (Subaru, 3. Gr.N) +35'52''1
For more information and pictures on Pirelli's motorsport activities visit: www.pirellicompetizioni.com
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