Solberg and Pirelli: great in Great Britain!

The Pirelli-equipped Subaru Impreza WRC2004 of Petter Solberg has won the Rally Great Britain for the third time, sealing Pirelli's eighth British win in the last 11 years. This is also the second win on the trot for Pirelli after victory in Japan, the 134th win in total and the fourth win that Pirelli and Solberg have taken together this year. The statistics underline Pirelli's notable superiority on gravel, especially considering the mechanical problems in Mexico and Cyprus that denied Solberg further victories. Solberg took the lead of Rally Great Britain on the final loop of stages, after a tense battle with Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb. The Norwegian won eight of the 19 stages run, and he ends the rally with a winning margin of 6.3 seconds. For the final leg, Solberg used Pirelli's P Zero KM4 tyres in the morning, before moving onto the harder KP4 tyre for the three afternoon stages. His young team mate Mikko Hirvonen finished the rally in seventh overall, having learnt a lot about Rally Great Britain and appreciated the qualities of Pirellis P Zero tyre range. Throughout the rally the performance of the tyres was excellent, and the latest evolution of the EMI anti-deflation mousse worked perfectly. Fiorenzo Brivio, Pirelli's rally manager, explained: "It's been an excellent win for Pirelli, Subaru and Solberg for the fourth time this year. In the second half of the Margam stage, which was progressively getting drier, the P Zero KP4 tyres reached their optimum temperature allowing Petter to attack and pass Sebastien Loeb." Petter Solberg commented: "This has been the toughest end to a rally that I have ever had, but also the nicest of my career. Sebastien has been fighting constantly and he was very determined. But in the end everything was fine, thanks to an excellent car, an excellent team and our excellent Pirelli P Zero tyres." RALLY GREAT BRITAIN - Final classification 1 Solberg-Mills Subaru Impreza WRC 3h42m39.5 2 Loeb-Elena Citroen Xsara WRC +6.3 3 Martin-Park Ford Focus WRC +2m47.4 4 Sainz-Marti Citroen Xsara WRC +3m42.1 5 Duval-Prevot Ford Focus WRC +4m41.3 6 Rovanpera-Pietilainen Peugeot 307 WRC +6m44.9 7 Hirvonen-Lehtinen Subaru Impreza WRC +7m08.3 8 Stohl-Minor Peugeot 206 WRC +8m32.7 9 Vouilloz-Giraudet Peugeot 206 WRC +15m12.3 10 Warmbold-Price Ford Focus WRC +15m49.3 Next event: Rally d'Italia-Sardinia, 1-3 October Driver points: 1 Loeb 92; 2 Solberg 64; 3 Martin 59; 4 Sainz 55; 5 Gronholm 47; 6 Duval 43; 7 Hirvonen 23; 8 Rovanpera 20; 9 Tuohino 16; 10 Loix 7; 11 Carlsson & Panizzi 6; 13 Stohl 4 Manufacturer points: 1 Citroen 150; 2 Ford 112; 3 Subaru 91; 4 Peugeot 76; 5 Mitsubishi 17